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Class JLLliA-,. 



Cop)Tight}!?- 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT, 



WITH DR. GRENFELL 
IN LABRADOR 



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Frontispiece 






WITH DR. GRENFELL 
IN LABRADOR 



BY 

CUTHBERT LEE 

WITH A CHAPTER BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL 




NEW YORK 
THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1914 






COPTBIGHT, 1914, BY 

THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 



m "5 i9i4 



I 

'CLA369957 



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'^ 



TO 

MY MOTHER 

WHOSE WONDERFUL PERSONALITY 

HAS INSPIRED 

MUCH SERVICE TO OTHERS 



INTRODUCTION 

Having lived in Labrador for over a year as vol- 
unteer aide to Dr. Grenfell, the author tells of the 
''liveyeres" or v^hite natives, the Eskimo and In- 
dians, to v^hom Dr. Grenfell ministers as physician, 
surgeon, sole magistrate for 2,000 miles of coast, 
preacher and philanthropist. 

That the commercial system of Labrador has been 
changed from the ancient barter of furs and fish 
for supplies to an increasingly sound cash basis in 
the last ten years is shown to be due to the estab- 
lishment by Dr. Grenfell of a series of cooperative 
stores run by natives. 

This complete change in the simple economic or- 
ganization of Labrador backs up the work of Dr. 
Grenfell's four hospitals in fighting the scurvy, 
anemia and consumption due chiefly to poverty and 
semi-starvation. 

The first full account of the Medical Mission as it 
is given here, the various stations and their buildings 
and personnel, and Dr. Grenfell's fleet of schooners 
and launches, headed by the staunch little hospital 
ship which has been on the rocks thirty-eight times. 

The experiences of the author as sailor, when he 
twice narrowly escaped drowning in severe storms 
and shipwreck, as clerk of Labrador's one court, in 
traveling through blizzards with Eskimo dogs, hunt- 
ing and shooting in this sportmen's paradise, reveal 

5 



6 StttroDuctiott 

a life full of excitement in a country regarded as 
dull and bleak. 

Mr. Lee's work included breaking in and help- 
ing to establish the herd of reindeer which will 
eventually provide the natives with food, clothing 
and transportation, and do away with the man-eat- 
ing Eskimo dogs. 

And through all this account runs an intimate 
series of views of the author's friend, Dr. Gren- 
fell, "the most picturesque figure on the North 
American continent," whose wonderful personality, 
though revealed in his work, is here for the first 
time presented as he lives his daily life. The com- 
pelling but diffident speaker and writer, known to 
Americans and honored here and abroad, is shown 
here as "The Doctor" of Labrador, the wise judge, 
unhesitating fighter and watchful guardian, whose 
generosity in giving his life to help others, and 
whose courage in navigating his little vessel and 
facing death on the ice, have earned the love of the 
strong men of Labrador. 

Dr. Grenfell has contributed an excellent chap- 
ter on the future of Labrador, telling why he be- 
lieves in and loves the country and its people. Un- 
known to him, the author has planned to share 
equally with Dr. Grenfell, for use in his work, the 
profits of this book. DOUGLAS PALMER, 

Volunteer member of the medical staff, Inter- 
national Medical Mission in Labrador, for 
four years. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

I. The Future of LxVbrador, by Wilfred 

T. Grenfell 
II. The Labrador People 

III. Hunting and Fishing 

IV. Commercial Labrador 
V. Exploration . 

VI. The Labrador Medical Mission 
VII. How TO Reach Labrador 
VIII. An American in Labrador . 

IX. The Labrador Eskimo . 
Appendix : Addresses .... 



PAGE 
11 

29 

41 

61 

72 

85 

105 

112 

138 

155 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Wilfred T. Grenfell 



Frontispiece 



OPPOSITE 
PAQB 



An Eskimo family at home . . opposite page 114 ^ 
Building shelters on spring journey . 
Children from Dr. Grenf ell's orphanage . 
Dog transportation in Labrador 
Dr. Grenfell visiting the Eskimo 

in sealskins .... 

in his Eskimo kyak 

surveying .... 
Fishing schooners in Battle Harbor, Labrador 
Lapland herders harnessing reindeer 
Map, specially drawn for this book 
Noonday siesta on a frozen marsh 
Quarter-mile of Greenland glacier 
Keindeer on Doctor's Hills 

caravan hauling logs . 

team 

The author in Eskimo sealskin clothes 
The reindeer afford rich milk 




WITH DR. GRENFELL 
IN LABRADOR 



CHAPTER I 

THE FUTURE OF LABRADOR, BY WILFRED T. 
GRENFELL 

The section of North America known as "Lab- 
rador" may be said, roughly, to consist of a terri- 
tory as large as England, Scotland, Ireland, France, 
and Austria combined. The real question of inter- 
est is, What can this vast area contribute to the 
world's wealth? Can it contribute anything? 

It is an acknowledged fact that so far it is only 
inhabited by a comparative handful of settlers, who 
live scattered all along the seaboard, and by trap- 
pers who hunt along its waterways, or on the high- 
lands in winter. The gradually diminishing bands 
of Micmac and Nascopee Indians who eke out a 
precarious livelihood by the chase as they wander 
over the whole length and breadth of the country 
are known at times to meet with hunger or even 
actual starvation. The Eskimos, who once lived in 

II 



12 mith Dr* ©renfell in JLaliraSor 

abundance around the entire shore line, are now 
confined to the northern two hundred miles of coast; 
and they, too, are steadily diminishing, owing to the 
destruction of their means of livelihood by their 
more clever and better outfitted white competitors. 

Forest fires and excessive hunting have told 
heavily upon the numbers of fur-bearing animals. 
The almost unrestricted netting of estuaries and of 
rivers has decreased enormously the salmon re- 
sources of a hundred years ago. In 1795 one firm 
was able to export as much as all our salmon now 
put together can total. The seals are seriously 
diminishing, and so are the whales. Fifty years ago 
it was possible to become positively wealthy if you 
owned a good sealing berth. It was not then a 
matter of wonder that one man, on the strength of 
his sealing stand, kept a carriage and horses and 
built the only road in Labrador that he might drive 
them along it. Moreover, at the approach of winter 
he was able to hire a fiddler from Quebec, keep open 
house, and provide merriment for his neighbors 
until the return of open water. Yet so much have 
the seals decreased that I was called upon to help 
with food this very man's grandson, who had fallen 
into poverty and semi-starvation. He had been 
obliged to abandon the sealing post altogether. 

Once it was a regular supplement to the cod-fish- 
ing to use seal nets in the fall and spring. Now it 
hardly pays to put them out if you own them; and 



Ctie JFuture of LaSraOor 13 

no merchant would dream of supplying them in 
return for half the catch, as was the custom here- 
tofore. In our own minds we attribute this to the 
enormous number of baby seals killed just after 
they are born by the many large steamer crews, 
which are each year increasing in size and numbers. 
Not only is this loss of seals a serious factor to the 
cash returns of the Labrador family, but also the 
disappearance of the fresh meat for food and the 
invaluable skin for boots and clothing constitutes an 
irreparable misfortune. 

For some reason or other, the codfish along the 
coast have also become more liable to fail of late 
years, to such an extent that most of the northern 
summer stations have been entirely abandoned. The 
herring, too, for which Labrador was especially fa- 
mous, have left their former haunts, and this fishery 
also has been practically abandoned. 

For my part, I am often asked, "Why don't you 
try to move every living being out of such a God- 
forsaken country?" As a matter of fact, the only 
just deduction from all these conditions is that what 
has befallen Labrador is only exactly what has hap- 
pened everywhere else where exploitation has been 
practiced without, or instead of, conservation, and 
where no capital and no science have come to the 
rescue. Where would even California have been 
without irrigation, to say nothing of Arizona and 
New Mexico? 



14 OJitf) Dr* ®unttll mXafitanot 

Hitherto I have been registering facts. As to 
the why and wherefore of these facts it has for- 
merly been no one's business to inquire. There is 
no marine biological department in the country to 
make scientific inquiries and to seek for remedies. 
Our industries, like sick folk in Labrador twenty 
years ago, simply died or lived, as chance directed. 
Of late years the Newfoundland Government, under 
whose jurisdiction the eastern side of Labrador 
falls, has done something to prevent the destruction 
of the reproduction grounds of our salmon and 
trout by adding to the laws prohibiting the netting 
and barring of rivers some small executive force 
to put the laws into effect. But it still seems prob- 
able that little recuperation will occur until the 
catching of cod by the great submerged trap-nets 
spread all along the coast in the months of June, 
July, and August is abandoned. These are exactly 
the months when the salmon are running into the 
bays and rivers, and a very large number of peal 
(or salmon under two pounds weight) are taken in 
the leaders, or large nets, which reach from the 
surface to the bottom and run out one hundred 
fathoms from the shore to the trap. In one river I 
have seen fifty salmon caught on a fly, every one of 
which showed a net mark on its shoulders, proving 
that it had forced its way through or broken loose 
from twine lower down the river. We are delighted 
that there is a growing feeling among the cod-fisher- 



Cfie jFuture of LalitaBot 15 

men themselves against these nets, for, though in 
this way they catch countless numbers of fish in a 
brief time, the take is entirely dependent upon the 
cod coming right into the shore exactly where the 
net is set, and, if the fish strike a hundred yards 
either way or keep on the outside, a whole summer 
may be lost, and that often spells ruin. 

Again, the trap method of fishing, which makes 
it necessary for the fisherman to sit down until the 
fish catches itself, tells against the men, qua men, 
destroying that magnificent enterprise and daring 
which carries the deep-sea fisherman wherever the 
fish may move to. 

It might be easy to go on and show that Labra- 
dor, so far as can be seen at present, offers as its 
main contribution to the world's economies animals 
rather than vegetable or mineral products. The an- 
cient formation of the Labrador rocks, the continu- 
ation of the Appalachian range, their similarity to 
those of the rich ore-producing strata of the rest 
of the northern section of North America, and the 
small amount of prospecting which has been possi- 
ble, together with the revelation of the economic 
possibilities for every form of matter now that 
radio-activity has been discovered, foreshadow ul- 
timately unlimited development for Labrador. This 
opinion is confirmed when one considers her enor- 
mous water powers as yet unharnessed, especially 
the Grand Falls of the Hamilton River, which are 



1 6 mith Dr* ©renfell in LafiraBor 

undoubtedly among the finest in the world. But we 
are utilitarian enough to feel more interested in 
immediate than in remote posterity, from which we, 
during our stay on earth, can at best expect little. 
Moreover, at present we in Labrador are without 
the means to promote mineral development. 

We are in much the same position in regard to 
the possible returns from the vegetable assets of the 
country. The natural products of the valleys are 
spruce, firs, and larches, with a few scattered birch, 
balsams, and alders. The uplands of the interior 
and the barrens afford mostly mosses and lichens. 
Grasses are characteristically absent, with the ex- 
ception of the sand grass, which grows abundantly 
on the few beaches, and which not only affords a 
fine tough stalk for basket-making, but also a good 
seed which for ages in Iceland, and at one time in 
Norway, served the people instead of corn. 

During the visits of the Vikings to Labrador this 
seed, in the absence of corn, gave them their only 
available bread, and was known as veiti^ or wheat. 

The making of linen from flax is also most profit- 
able in damp climates, and, now that straw can be 
used for making it, there seems no reason why such 
an industry might not grow up. 

There can be no doubt, also, that the country 
could afford abundant pulp material, our northern 
spruces being especially admirable for that purpose, 
owing to their tough fibers. But no feasible plan 




TRANSPORTATION IN THE INTERIOR OF LABRADOR 

Facing page i6 



Cfte iFutiite of LaliraDor 17 

has as yet been offered to induce capital to come in 
and work it. It is true that there is an alpine flora, 
mostly of small, bright-colored flowering plants, and 
an abundant variety and generous quantity of in- 
digenous native berries. We now export our small 
red cranberry for purposes of dyeing, and also use 
it and the blueberry quite extensively for jams. 
There can be no doubt that these berries could be 
vastly improved by cultivation, and it is even pos- 
sible that the ripening period of some cereals may 
be sufliciently reduced to allow a limited amount of 
grain to be produced locally, possibly enough for 
any population which the country will ever be called 
upon to carry. At any rate, experiment has shown 
that in the valleys of the big rivers which have not 
been overrobbed of the natural protection of trees, 
and at distances sufficiently far from the polar cur- 
rent which sweeps the coast, barley and oats will 
ripen. On the other hand, we are liable to summer 
frosts. In most places our earth is scant, and where 
it is plentiful is very acid, a fact which accounts for 
the luxuriance of our crop of blueberries, which 
flourish only in a humic, acid soil. 

There is no question that a potato with crawling 
leaves which easily escape frost, such as was par- 
tially developed by Lord Strathcona, could be per- 
petuated, and, with the hardy cabbage, lettuce, and 
turnip, would add sufliciently to the quota of food 
contribution from the vegetable kingdom to supply 



1 8 mitb Or* ©tenfell in LalitalJor 

the moderate population with all that they would 
actually need of carbohydrates to maintain life, 
without the necessity for much importing. 

We are now experimenting with northern alfalfa, 
which offers good promise of success. Possibly also 
the new variety of Alsike clover, which is a peren- 
nial and unhurt by frosts, may simplify our dairy 
problem. 

But, look at it how you will (and for twenty 
years we have been considering how to improve 
matters), neither from the vegetable nor mineral 
kingdom do we see at present any hope of even- 
tually doing more than supply the bare necessities 
of existence. If, however, to some of those objec- 
tions to a population in a country which people have 
been pleased to call "the Land of Cain" we argue 
that in the animal kingdom we see a prospect of 
hope, we are met by the objection on the part of 
some that to convert our country into a meat-rais- 
ing land, and so contribute to the influences which 
already mark down the human race as beasts of 
prey, is not only unwise, but unworthy. 

But to the man who wears boots and shoes and 
the woman who wears furs and slippers Labrador 
makes an even more insistent plea for recognition, 
even if sentiment drives such persons to throw away 
the carcasses after they have been deprived of their 
natural coverings. Unfortunately, with us, our 
foxes and beavers and other animals have not emu- 



Cfte jFuture of LafiraDor 19 

lated either lobsters or crabs or snakes in their 
estimable ability to shed their skins and grow new 
ones. Only in the Utopian dreams of fox-farmers 
and seal-hunters has the possibility of this ultima 
thule of animal culture yet been developed. As 
matters exist, one of the most sorrowful features 
of seal-hunting, to me, is that the bodies of the 
countless slain babies are left to waste in the cold 
storage of the ice floe until sharks and other crea- 
tures of prey, above and below water, obliterate this 
offense to modern sensibilities. Even those, how- 
ever, who, to be consistent, object to the use of any 
animal product whatever which involves the death 
of the producer, must still note the momentous ar- 
gument that, if all of the human inhabitants of the 
world were really vegetarian, nearly one-half of the 
world would have to starve in order to let the others 
practice their faith — which is a paradox, seeing that 
we, too, are animals. Only a short time ago a 
friend wrote me from England a long discourse on 
the value of nuts as food. He expatiated on their 
cheapness, their economy as a concentrated food, 
and on many of their other inestimable virtues. But 
he only sent along one small sample bottle to sup- 
port his argument. The real trouble with nuts in 
Labrador is not intellectual, but practical, because 
none at all are available — and we have not yet 
learned to live by swallowing the lump that rises in 
our throat whenever we chance to think of them. 



20 mUb Dr* ©tenfell m JLafiraDor 

For the present, it seems to me that the best im- 
mediate prospect of developing Labrador lies in the 
possibilities of her animals. These are steadily in- 
creasing in value to mankind, and every character- 
istic of Labrador points to this as the line of least 
resistance for evolution. When Alaska was first 
purchased, her mineral wealth was undeveloped, 
and Secretary Seward was blamed for buying a 
valueless country. The idea that a polar land like 
Alaska would ever contribute to the meat supply of 
the outside world has even yet scarcely dawned 
upon most men. But such is the case. A first con- 
signment of one hundred and twenty-five reindeer 
carcasses, shipped to Seattle from the domestic 
herds, arrived at the end of the year, and sold at 
twenty cents a pound. That this export will be 
vastly increased in the future, and that the experi- 
ment can be repeated in Labrador with success, is 
now beyond doubt. 

We purchased a herd of three hundred deer in 
Lapland in 1908, selling fifty stags on their arrival 
to assist in meeting the expenses. To manage the 
remaining two hundred and fifty we had brought 
over three families of Lapps, whom we retained for 
three winters. The does bear one fawn each April 
from their second to their twelfth year. Very 
rarely they have twins, and occasionally the young 
does will fawn at one year old. At breeding-time 
we keep the herd on the hills to save the fawns 




NOONDAY SIESTA ON A FROZEN MARSH 




REINDEER ON DOCTOR'S HILLS 



Facing page 20 



Cfte Jfutute of ILafiraDor 21 

from falling into the brooks through holes in the 
disappearing ice, while all summer they frequent 
the high sea cliffs to keep out of the way of flies 
as much as possible. Being splay-footed and cow- 
like, they occasionally fall over and perish. Now 
and again some of our dogs will pull down a doe or 
some stray one will escape the herders. There will 
always be a percentage of loss. But, inclusive of 
all losses, the herd will double in three years, and 
ought to do better than that if the stags only are 
either killed for meat or altered for transport pur- 
poses. This year we sold fifty more and sent three 
of our own trained herders to the Athabasca dis- 
trict near Fort Smith. We have now eight hundred 
and fifty left, mostly does, and in a few months 
should have over twelve hundred. Even if reindeer 
cannot supplant dogs for rapid transport, Labrador 
can certainly become one vast reindeer ranch. 

This experiment has clearly shown, as we have 
now for the first time moved the herd a few miles 
from the original feeding-ground, that the land can 
support almost a countless number, that they can 
easily endure our climate, and that they will pay 
well to raise when there is a sufficient number of 
them. 

At the present rate of increase, it is calculated 
that in twenty-five years there will be three million 
deer in Alaska, and it is reckoned that Alaska will 
carry ten million, so that there would appear to be 



22 mUb Dr* &tm(tll in LafiraHot 

promise of an almost unlimited supply of meat and 
skins for export. If the herds double in three years 
a million carcasses a year would not be too heavy 
an annual tax. On a treeless island near Nome Dr. 
Campbell's herd has in ten years grown from 
seventy to eight hundred and fifty. Think of the 
industry created and the collateral industries sup- 
ported by this scheme ! 

The value of the annual catch of fish around the 
British islands is estimated, at the actual auction 
price in the fish market, at over fifty million dollars ; 
and that, when translated into the amount it costs 
the consumer, might certainly be trebled. But if it 
were only doubled, what a vast amount of cereals 
and vegetables it would take to correspond to one 
hundred million dollars! This is saying nothing of 
the collateral values realized both by the distribu- 
tion of labor and the character development of the 
race engaged in the catching of the fish. The more 
one looks at the facts the more one is impressed 
with the fear that the world could not exist without 
the killing of animals, or, even if it were able to do 
so, a very imperfect race would be developed. 

The wisdom of looking ahead, therefore, that the 
meat supply of the world may be safeguarded, need 
not be seriously considered as tainted with crime. 
Add to this the expense and almost the impossibility 
of providing palatable and sufficient hydrocarbons 
from the vegetable world, and the rich milk and fat 



Cfte Jfuture of LafiraDor 23 

sources of hydrocarbon that these deer afford. 
Then we must recognize that the buffalo have gone, 
because their land was taken from them, and that 
the Rocky Mountain elk have to be fed artificially, 
and that, even in spite of that, they are dying in 
numbers from starvation. All our rich game birds 
are diminishing rapidly. How many families would 
have turkey to eat at Christmas if the supply were 
still derived only from the wild stock? The excel- 
lent northern curlew {Numeniiis Borealis) black- 
ened the sky twenty-five years ago in Labrador; 
now specimen collectors are offering fifty dollars 
for a single skin. To have to trust to the former 
wild pigeon supply for the succulent squab would 
bring tears to the eyes of many epicureans. The 
skin alone of this bird is fast rivaling for rarity that 
of the great auk and the dodo. 

Exactly the same thing exists in the vegetable 
world as in the animal, and on sea as on land. 
There would not be a lobster, an oyster, or a fur 
seal to-day available for the wayfaring man were 
it not for the principle of conservation long ago 
recognized and applied. The supply of cod, salmon, 
trout, etc., responds in exactly the same way to care 
and reasonable outlay. Large sums are now being 
spent on irrigation, pisciculture, and the adaptation 
of plants to new surroundings. 

I should like to register an earnest plea that 



24 Wiitb Dr» &ttnttll in LafiraDor 

philanthropic scientists and legislatures look into 
the matter seriously, and subsidize the attempt to 
utilize the now waste places of the earth, and at the 
same time protect, or use more efficiently, the herds 
of deer which still remain in the great north barren 
lands. 

The suggestion to remove our population after 
years of residence to some other place where things 
are easier will appear but short-sighted policy to the 
generations to come, compared with that which, 
recognizing the difficulties of the wilderness, goes 
in and then proceeds to make it blossom like a rose. 

It was suggested some time ago by Mr. Thomp- 
son Seton, the well-known naturalist, that the yak 
of Tibet might be adapted to Canada. So a little 
herd of six yak, donated from the Duke of Bed- 
ford's park at Wobun, were expatriated from Eng- 
land to a place on the prairie near Brandon. Ap- 
parently little more is known of the experiment, but 
as yet it has not revolutionized either the meat trade 
or the sleigh-robe supply. 

Some years ago a herd of a dozen moose were 
turned wild into Newfoundland. It is said that one 
has been seen once or twice since then, but nothing 
material has resulted so far. Mr. Seton is still as 
convinced as ever that his experiments can succeed. 
He is by no means yet convinced that the experi- 
ment has been tried. Personally, I am convinced 
that neither one of them has been tried. When one 



C|)e jFutute of LafttaDor 25 

learns from Admiral Peary of the white caribou 
which can multiply in North Grantland and in the 
Arctic night, when one sees Professor Tyrrell's pic- 
tures of the endless procession of the herds of deer 
that find a living in the almost absolutely barren 
lands north of Chesterfield outlet, little doubt is left 
in one's mind that the magnificently demonstrated 
theorem of North Alaska can be redemonstrated in 
Labrador. 

While the modern methods of manufacturing and 
the conversion of waste into useful products are 
already phenomenal, there still remains a demand 
for the raw material and natural products. The 
industrial chemist can synthesize almost anything 
for us nowadays. The obscure secretion of the 
ductless gland known as adrenalin, the very use of 
which in the economy of the body we have only just 
discovered, can now be made out of ordinary coal- 
tar. Just so, camphor can be made artificially ; and 
it might be possible to suppose that, by trying hard 
enough, if the doctrine of selection is true, we might 
get back by unnatural elimination to the mammoth 
and the dinosaur. But where products are required 
in bulk, and especially where they relate to the food 
of man, there is every reason to consider it is good 
economy to incur expenditure in order to fall in line 
with natural processes rather than attempt to begin 
all over again on our own account. Incidentally, 
the naturally produced venison has a flavor some- 



26 mitb Dn (3ttn(tn in LaftraDor 

what between that of beef and lamb, and is most 
delectable. 

I must not conclude this article without reference, 
however, to another equally important possibility of 
Labrador in the line of animal propagation; and 
that concerns its export of valuable furs. Twenty 
years ago, when I went to Labrador, the following 
were approximately the prices for fur paid to the 
trappers : 

Silver fox $5o-$ioo Muskrat lo cents 

Patch fox $6-$i5 White fox $i 

Mink $1 Lynx $3.50 

Red fox $3 Black bear $10 

Ermine 10 cents Otter $10 

Marten cats (our sable) $3-5o 

Now the prices stand at about twice or three 
times the above : 

Silver fox $500 or over Muskrat 25 cents 

Patch fox $10-30 White fox $5-12 

Mink $4-10 Lynx $10-30 

Red fox $7-10 Black bear $10-20 

Ermine 25 cents Otter $15-30 

Marten $15-25 

This can mean only one of two things — either the 
demand has increased or the supply has diminished. 
I believe both to be true; and it is quite obvious 
that conservation, or rather propagation, is desir- 
able. Is it possible to propagate these animals? 
Most certainly it is. It has been shown beyond 
all question that foxes, marten, mink, and skunk 
live and breed in captivity, and there is no reason 



Cfie jFuture of Lafiratior 27 

to suppose that, if they are given room and food, 
beaver, otter, and ermine would not do the same. 
Some years ago, partly at the suggestion of the nat- 
uralist, Professor Brewster, of Massachusetts, we 
started a small fox farm with three runs. We did 
not, however, understand our business. We had 
very little time to spend in looking after them, and, 
being in a public place, they were much observed by 
many visitors. The increased value of foxes caught 
young and kept to maturity paid all expenses, but 
we were unfortunate enough not to get any litters 
of our own. So we abandoned the enterprise, sell- 
ing the last of our silver foxes to a friend in Prince 
Edward Island. He succeeded immediately in get- 
ting a litter of cubs. Other enterprises have sprung 
up all around; many new facts have become ap- 
parent, and 1 myself have had at least fifty applica- 
tions for live specimens for breeding purposes dur- 
ing the last twelve months. 

It is perfectly safe to say that these ventures in 
animal farming are, like the new deer experiment, 
now beyond the problematical stage, and it is an 
established fact that considerable dividends are al- 
ready being paid on the outlay. Moreover, as Mr. 
Seton has pointed out, the tendency of Labrador is 
to produce the darker, blacker, and more valuable 
colored furs, while the tendency of Alaska is 
toward light colors and reds, which are less val- 
uable. For my part, I believe that both these orig- 



28 mUh Dr* ©tenfell in JLafiraDot 

inal propositions can be made to pay in Labrador. 
I believe that in the not distant future a railway 
will be run along its south shore ; and that the Hud- 
son Bay route will be made feasible, though the ice 
from the west of Baffin's Bay, breaking off with 
the September equinoxes, does fill the channel near 
Cape Wolstenholme earlier than the new ice of No- 
vember, which was originally thought to be the 
chief difficulty. As a place for summer visitors its 
fyns and falls will one day bring a large traffic. 

Without posing as attorney for the Creator in 
the endeavor to defend his economy in having pro- 
duced so large a quantity of material of problem- 
atical value, I want to go on record as one who 
personally has faith in the future of Labrador and 
in its mineral resources, and the adaptability of its 
valleys by drainage and culture for summer crops 
of the necessaries of life. I have no doubt whatever 
that, with proper conservation of its animal re- 
sources, it offers yet a valuable addition to the pos- 
sessions of Canada and the British Empire, an addi- 
tion of which only a few to-day see the meaning. 
Alaska, British Columbia, the great Northwest, 
Klondike, Cobalt, and generally the whole of ''Our 
Lady of the Snows," had to win their laurels 
against severe criticism, an unmerited combat, and 
much neglect. But the Great Dominion is finding 
herself all safely, and one day Labrador also will 
come to her own. 




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CHAPTER II 

THE LABRADOR PEOPLE 

There are about five thousand permanent inhab- 
itants of the Labrador coast, comprising three sep- 
arate sorts of people. The Eskimo were the orig- 
inal possessors of the country, as far as we know, 
and were once quite numerous. They now, how- 
ever, are chiefly found north of Hamilton Inlet. 
Their numbers are decreasing, though not very rap- 
idly. Eventually, undoubtedly, the Eskimo will die 
out, but they are doing so rather more slowly than 
men of science of fifty years ago prophesied. They 
are perpetuating their strain through families of 
half breeds, which are becoming more numerous. 

The second element of the population and 
the one which promises to be the chief in the 
future is the English. Several generations ago 
the last Englishmen came over as servants of 
the Hudson Bay Co., or as adventurous seekers 
after fortune. For two or three hundred years be- 
fore that, however. Englishmen had been coming to 
the Coast from Devonshire and the Channel Islands 
and many of them had settled and married Eskimo 

29 



30 mitb Dr» (Srenfell in ILafiratiPt 

women. Some of them deserted from fishing ships, 
others were runaway convicts and apprentices. 
Originally they lived with the Eskimo and learned 
their language and methods of hunting, and in some 
cases actually forget not only their own past but 
the English language. Nowadays, however, most 
of them speak English, although with a very queer 
dialect, which combines sea terms, Devonshire, Es- 
kimo and Indian speech and sheer ignorance. These 
whites are found all along the coast, and are, in 
many cases, seemingly equal to the Eskimo in fish- 
ing and hunting and in enduring the hardships of 
a northern climate. They have further the advan- 
tage in cod fishing that they possess a considerable 
amount of foresight, in which the Eskimo are woe- 
fully lacking. It is true that they are extremely 
ignorant and in a very large per cent, illiterate. The 
reasons for this are many. One of them was men- 
tioned above, namely, their isolation. During the 
summer they fish from the outlying islands of the 
coast and during the winter they move back up the 
bays in order to be more sheltered and to reach, if 
possible, wooded country and to have a chance to 
hunt fur-bearing animals. Here they live often 
twenty miles from any other family, and the estab- 
lishment of schools under these circumstances is 
practically impossible. Further, the government of 
the country is so nominal that it is doubtful if 



Cfte ILabraDor People 31 

schools would be established even were there more 
demand. 

In spite, however, of these very serious draw- 
backs the Labrador liveyeres * are splendid people. 
They are bred up to a knowledge of the country in 
which they live, which is astounding to a city 
dweller. They have a sense of direction which al- 
most equals that of the caribou. In a blizzard 
which makes it impossible to see for more than ten 
yards in a country without landmarks they will find 
their way home, although they have strayed twenty 
miles inland. They are also sailors of the very 
highest grade of skill and agility. By what power 
they manage to sail into harbor without a compass 
in a dense fog, when this means the one chance 
which would take them in any other direction than 
out over the broad expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, I 
am utterly at a loss to know. 

The Labrador people are religious, honest and 
law-abiding to a marked degree. Their simple 
piety is that of the old pioneers. Through inher- 
itance and the efforts of itinerant preachers visiting 
the coast in summer they have nearly all come to 
regard themselves as members of some denomina- 
tion. Chief among these are the Church of Eng- 
land (Episcopalian), Methodist, and Catholic. The 
Baptists and Salvation Army are also represented. 
Nowhere is the futility of this division into denom- 

* Those who "live here." 



32 muh Dr* arenfell in iLabraBot 

inations more evident than here. In a Httle settle- 
ment Hke Rigolette, for example, the factor of the 
Hudson Bay Company, a splendid man, extends the 
hospitality of his dining-room table to three differ- 
ent denominational groups each Sunday. Services 
are held by lay readers or a chance visiting pastor. 
Dr. Grenfell always uses his influence to break down 
the antipathy between the adherents to creeds; and 
the services which he occasionally conducts are un- 
denominational. 

In reality the religion of these different groups 
is the same. It is strongly orthodox and evangel- 
ical. "Testimony meetings" are held and eloquent 
harangues result in men and women declaring them- 
selves '"saved" by an inner "change of heart." 
While it is difficult for a more sophisticated person 
to comprehend this sort of religion, it is neverthe- 
less a much more real religion than the so-called 
"liberal" ones, because it possesses the emotional 
appeal which is absolutely necessary to real religion, 
and which is dying out in the "intellectual" and 
"higher" theologies. 

Because their religion moves them — and, of 
course, the feelings and not the intellect are the real 
cause of most human action — the Labrador people 
live up to their religion. They consider it wrong to 
work on Sunday, and I have seen a poor man watch 
a cod-trap, his only means of livelihood, carried 
away by an iceberg on Sunday, refusing to make an 




Children from Dr. Grenfell's orphanage on one of 
his schooners frozen in the harbor 




Si**..v, !fjL;j*- 



T^eindeer caravan hauling logs; approaching frozen harbor; 

author leading 
Facing page 32 



Cfte LafitaOor people 33 

effort to rescue it. At midnight he went out and 
did what he could to save the remains ; and he didn't 
whimper over his terrible loss. Without a trace of 
cant he said quietly, "D'Lord knows bes' what t' do 
wid me, sure. If he'd wished me t'have d'trap he'd 
a left un." 

One respects this deep faith, even though it seems 
at times foolishly to sacrifice material welfare. In 
deference to it Dr. Grenfell, hurried as he is in the 
short season of navigation, does no traveling on 
Sunday. In emergencies, however, he draws the line. 
When he was lying in port one Sabbath day a man 
arrived begging him to visit his wife who had been 
taken seriously ill and seemed to be dying. Dr. 
Grenfell told his skipper to have steam up in ten 
minutes, but he flatly refused, protesting that he 
couldn't and wouldn't sail on Sunday. Dr. Grenfell 
carefully explained that he was starting solely be- 
cause of an emergency, which probably meant life 
or death. Again the skipper refused to start. Dr. 
Grenfell at once became the stern fighter who has 
won so (many battles against hard odds on the coast. 

''Either get ready to weigh anchor in ten minutes 
or go ashore. I don't need you to navigate my 
vessel." The skipper was a man of considerable 
determination, but he thought the matter over, and 
in a few minutes reported the vessel ready, and set 
sail on Sunday for the first time in his life. An 
operation was necessary, but the woman recovered. 



34 Mitb Dt* ©renfell in LaftraDor 

A long siege and several daring raids by Dr. 
Grenfell have pretty effectually driven out the sale of 
liquor. This is an advantage hard to overestimate. 
Formerly Labrador v/as always famed as a coast 
of hard drinking and wild living. Cartwright, an 
eighteenth century trader, often enters in his jour- 
nal, "All hands drunk and fighting." Tradition re- 
counts wild orgies at weddings and wakes. One 
does not have to be a temperance enthusiast to de- 
plore the drawback that liquor was, especially in 
winter, to people whose lives already were hard 
enough and often enough in danger. It was suffi- 
ciently bad in summer, as the following account by 
the worthy Ephraim Tucker shows : 

*'The vice of intemperance prevails everywhere 
among the European settlers of Labrador. Scarcely 
a family can be found among them who do not 
habitually use intoxicating liquors. It is a prolific 
source of diseases to the inhabitants, and more or 
less are cut off every season in the prime of life 
from its fatal influences. The following fact was 
related to me by a native, in speaking of the gross 
intemperance of the shore inhabitants of Labrador. 
As he was coasting one day up the Gulf, during a 
rough sea and high wind, he discovered at a con- 
siderable distance ahead an object that appeared to 
be floating without helm or guidance upon the 
waves. He hove to, in order to ascertain its nature, 
and soon perceived that it was a large boat, having 



Cfte JLafitaDot l^eople 35 

a man, woman and three children on board. The 
man, who was afterwards found to be the father of 
the children, was dead drunk, and the mother so far 
gone under the influence of liquor that she had no 
more apparent regard for her children than for the 
fish in the depths of the ocean. The eldest of the 
children was twelve years of age, and the evil prac- 
tices of the parents had been followed by their 
unhappy offspring, who were evidently unconscious 
of any danger. The captain of the Newfoundland 
fisherman kindly took them on board and, when 
they had roused from their stupor, informed them 
of the peril to which their intemperance had ex- 
posed them, and admonished them to beware for the 
future. But for his timely succor, they would in- 
evitably have perished. It appeared on inquiry that 
the party had that morning been out in their boat to 
purchase a few articles in a neighboring harbor, and 
that there the trader had plied them well with rum, 
and fitted them out with their articles in the midst 
of a gale, heedless whether they perished or not." 

In strong contrast to the conditions formerly pre- 
vailing, Labrador now presents a clean slate. 
Tramp steamers in remote ports sometimes dole out 
rum to the men who work at loading her, but no 
liquor is sold openly and there are no ''shabeens'* 
for its secret sale. 

The Labrador people are religious in spite of 
their few ministers rather than by their help, be- 



36 mUb Dt* ©tenfell in LatitaDot 

cause with one or two exceptions the dispensers of 
religion are not of an inspiring type. The coast 
is the dumping and training ground for probation- 
ers who often regard themselves as much-abused 
representatives of official righteousness and fail to 
enter into the life in the right spirit. A church 
history unconsciously records this feeling in a cer- 
tain Bishop of Newfoundland, who also had juris- 
diction over Labrador. He was a fine type of man 
himself, and cruised the coast in his own small ves- 
sel. But, "though glorying in privations and hard- 
ships himself, he said of a young preacher whom he 
left on the Labrador, 'Here he must stay alone, 
among utter strangers, common fishermen, without 
house or home, with no probability of retreat or 
escape, no prospect of seeing a friend or even get- 
ting a letter for nearly a year. He must eat fish, 
and little else, in a small kitchen. What a contrast 
to an English curacy !' " 

An ancient story of the Bishop's visit to Labra- 
dor tells how he found a liveyere woman absolutely 
ignorant of the gospel. "Don't you know," he said, 
"that Jesus died for you?" 

"No sir," she replied meekly, "is he dead sir? 
We-uns don't often git no news down here." 

The good bishop's reference to food was not 
without point. The diet of the liveyere is miser- 
able. It was a great surprise to me to find how 
little the people, of southern Labrador especially. 



Cfte Lafitaflot people 37 

live on the animal food of the country, and how 
much they depend on imported goods. This is less 
surprising when one considers that most of them 
are less hunters than fishermen, and that they are 
not nomadic, as a hunting race has to be. Further 
the game is too uncertain and varying from season 
to season to make it safe for them to depend on it; 
and, of course, it is becoming gradually less plenti- 
ful. 

Along the Straits and the northern coast the peo- 
ple hunt caribou, and whenever these are numerous 
they supply themselves with meat for the winter. 
Occasional bears are eaten, but seal meat, which is 
excellent, is chiefly used to eke out their provisions. 
Seal is fine-grained flesh with a gamey flavor like 
that of salt-water duck. Whales are almost never 
killed by the natives now, but the flesh is appetizing, 
and I found it almost impossible to tell it from beef, 
except by its somewhat coarser grain. The large 
carcasses, which are now utilized only as fertilizer 
by the commercial whale-killers in their factories, 
could easily be canned and sold at low cost, but 
through prejudice the people would probably refuse 
to eat the meat until a long campaign of education 
taught them its value. 

The many varieties of ducks are shot whenever 
possible during open water and on the ice, and help 
to keep many homes from illness due to poor nutri- 
tion. In winter rabbits are snared and the willow- 



38 mitb Dt* &tm(tll in LafiraDot 

grouse or "partridges" are eaten in large numbers. 
Berries are abundant on the coast and the dwarf 
cranberry, currants and a Labrador native called the 
"bake-apple" are barreled in water and allowed to 
freeze. When needed a piece of berry-laden ice is 
chopped out and thawed. 

The mainstay of the Labrador diet, however, is 
flour. It is used as bread, and is mixed with water 
and fried or boiled. Next comes hardtack, which 
is even better liked but more expensive. Salt pork 
is largely used where seal- fat should be. Little or 
no sugar can be afforded, black molasses taking its 
place. About the nearest Labrador approach to 
cake is the famous " 'lassy pork-bun," of which I 
was very fond, especially for dog-travel, for it does 
not freeze readily. It is flour and molasses with 
squares of salt pork baked in. 'Lassy seal-bun, in 
which squares of seal-blubber are substituted, is 
even better. 

No use has yet been made by the liveyeres of the 
reindeer-moss on which the caribou feed. The In- 
dians use it mixed with deer's blood, and eat noth- 
ing else while hunting. I ate some plain and found 
it edible but tasteless, reminding one too much of 
hay. If one had had oil and vinegar, an agreeable 
salad might have resulted. 

The great national drink is tea, brewed strong 
and drunk often. It is responsible for the extraor- 
dinary prevalence among the Labrador people of 



Cfte ILatiraDor people 39 

digestive troubles. No other beverage is widely 
used, not even water. Molasses and water are 
sometimes mixed and consumed ; and guests are 
offered "red-berries" in water with molasses added 
— a sort of cranberry lemonade. In the spring 
many people brew a harmless beer from the tops of 
spruce trees. 

The monotony of this diet is not only uninviting, 
but its absolute lack of greens and foods containing 
certain salts is dangerous. The reason for this lack 
is that no vegetables are raised. Practically the only 
crop on the coast is turnips and cabbages, and even 
these are often killed by frost in midsummer. Well 
inland, up the sheltered bays, it is possible to raise 
some things adapted to a short season, but, as the 
very time when they must be cultivated is the busi- 
est part of the fishing, nothing can be done. Hence 
a large amount of scurvy exists, directly due to lack 
of fresh food. 

In the Newfoundland census of Labrador appear 
on one page ten inhabited harbors, with blanks for 
the year's output of the following land and animal 
products and stock: wheat, barley, oats, hay, pota- 
toes, turnips, other root crops, cabbages, horses, 
cows, other cattle, sheep, swine, goats, fowl, butter, 
wool, furs. Of these ten harbors the crowning 
glory was a total live stock of one pig; and the 
total crop raised (all in one harbor) was a barrel 
of turnips and 150 heads of cabbage. All the other 



40 mith Dr* &tm(tll in JLafitaUot 

spaces were blank, except furs, of which 6i had 
been taken, valued at $409. 

Those who consider these hard conditions intol- 
erable must remember the other side of northern 
life presented in Dr. Grenf ell's chapter and else- 
where, and the fact that these hardships are largely 
responsible for that strong, modest, efficient race, 
the Labrador liveyeres. 



CHAPTER III 



HUNTING AND FISHING 



In Labrador one cannot hunt to order, on sched- 
ule. It is not the place for the business man who 
wants to sit down and figure out exactly how to get 
a tan, six stories and two heads in three weeks at 
$500. Far be it from me to quarrel with the ready- 
made sportsman, who has many amiable traits. I 
merely point out that he will be disappointed. The 
place for him is southern Newfoundland in the fall. 
There he may travel a bit slowly, but in comfort, on 
the little railroad, sending his servants ahead, of 
course, to prepare the camp. He may have a com- 
fortable resting-place prepared not far from the toot 
of the locomotive, and between the meals served by 
his chef may shoot his caribou as they cross the 
track, migrating south. If it is a bit damp that day 
he can have his chief guide shoot the deer for him. 
The ladies may make this trip in perfect comfort. 
They should, of course, bring with them a complete 
stock for the larder, including evaporated cream 
and desiccated eggs. The best heads are not to be 
obtained in this way, but can easily be procured of 

41 



42 mUb Dt* ©renfell in LafiraDot 

the taxidermist at home, and the actual kilHng is 
jolly fine sport. 

Seriously, it is possible to get deer with the min- 
imum trouble in southern Newfoundland, and there 
are plenty of trained guides, cooks and packers, so 
that a modest one-man party or the outing of a club 
can be thoroughly planned in advance and carried 
out on schedule, with practically guaranteed results, 
and no need of carrying more than your gun, am- 
munition and perhaps tent into the country. Sim- 
ilar arrangements are possible for a trouting or 
salmon-fishing trip. The Reid Newfoundland Rail- 
road runs through good fishing territory, and in 
some places there are actually roads, and wagons 
can be hired to take the "sporters," as they are 
called, to or near the streams. Hence, for those 
who want their sport assured, southern Newfound- 
land will prove very satisfactory. 

In Labrador it is another matter. The worst 
feature is the extreme uncertainty of everything. 
There is no railroad for the deer to cross, and their 
migration seems to be irregular. Very little hunt- 
ing or fishing has been done except by the natives, 
and they seldom have time for it in summer. For 
this reason it is hard to get guides until pretty late 
in the autumn. As mentioned in the chapter on Ex- 
ploration, few of the liveyeres have had any ex- 
perience as regular guides, so that the best way is 
to bring along one's own Maine or Canadian guides 



punting anD 4Fi0j)mg 43 

and rely on one or two liveyeres for knowledge of 
the country only. 

Labrador's biggest game is the whale. Formerly 
it was hunted in small boats by the Eskimo, but this 
sport has vanished. It is now hunted commercially, 
but even that method is becoming rare, as the **big 
fish" are killed off. 

The whaling steamer, which is manned largely 
by Norwegians, scours the sea for a long distance 
out until a school of whales or a single one or two 
of good size are sighted. Then she swoops down 
upon them, singles out the best and chases him 
until near enough to shoot. The old captain stands 
at the gun in the bow and, when the psychological 
moment arrives, aims and fires. Out shoots the 
harpoon, to which is attached a strong cable. 

When first hit the whale dives and the line whips 
out, coil after coil. To the first length is attached 
another and another; and sometimes half a mile of 
rope hitches the wounded whale to the steamer. 
The harpoon is constructed like an umbrella, and 
the pull of the line opens its steel barbs, which hold 
as securely as an anchor. It is also equipped with 
an automatic bomb which explodes inside the whale. 
Even with this humane precaution, the whale lives 
for a considerable time, and makes a terrible fight 
for life. 

After staying down as long as possible he turns 
and rushes to the surface, shooting out of the water 



44 Mitb Dn ©renfell in Lafiranot 

sometimes his whole length. He then either dives 
again or strikes off at great speed, his tremendous 
strength whipping the steamer through the water, 
though her engines may be reversed and exerting all 
their power to pull her backward. Although the 
danger is much less than in the days of open-boat 
whaling, it is by no means absent. The whale, after 
diving, may come up under the steamer and cause 
considerable damage. The whalers tell a story, 
which has to be taken with a grain of salt, of one 
whale which rose at great speed beneath the steamer 
and, crashing through her bottom, lodged himself 
so tightly in the galley amidships as to stop the 
awful hole he had made and enable the ship to 
reach port in safety with the whale practically a 
passenger. 

To be so close to this sea-hunting gives one a 
sense of famiharity with the long-gone whalers of 
the old New England ports, hardy, rough-living 
heroes, of whom the Labrador affords a few last 
representatives. 

Next to the whales come the caribou. Labrador 
is a great country for caribou; and it is unfor- 
tunate that, as the natives are busy fishing in sum- 
mer and never have time to hunt, few sportsmen 
have tried it in that season. It will be pioneer work, 
but ought to bring results. There seem to be two 
distinct herds, a northern and a southern, although 
it is possible that at times they travel far enough 



J|)unring ana Jfi^fting 45 

to come together. The vast area which they cover 
makes it impossible for even the Indians of the in- 
terior to keep accurate track of their moving. 

In the fall and winter occurs the big killing. The 
natives of the southern shore make fairly frequent 
and long trips into the interior with their Eskimo 
dogs and sleds, and bring out heavy loads of car- 
casses. Some years the deer do not come near 
enough to the coast to be reached without too long 
trips; other years find the deer almost out to the 
houses, so that the dogs make hunting forays alone 
as their wolf ancestors did, and successfully bring 
down the game. 

The Indians of the interior gather for a huge 
round-vip at which many animals are killed. So 
much do they depend on the deer that a scarcity 
one year invariably cuts down their already fast 
diminishing numbers. 

The Eskimo of the north coast do not go far 
inland, but near Davis Inlet they conduct a grand 
hunt in a not too sportsmanlike, but unusual, man- 
ner. A yearly migration takes place here, and if 
the leader of the deer follow^s the usual custom the 
whole herd is led over a height of land made by 
nature into a narrow pass from which there is no 
escape sideways. The Eskimo build a stone wall to 
narrow it and lie down behind. Then, as thousands 
of deer pour through they spear enough for a year's 
supply of venison. Some have long, steel-shod, 



46 mUh Dt* @tmttU in LaflraDot 

spear-like attachments on their feet, with which they 
deal a death-blow. 

There are many animals in Labrador that one 
would not expect to find there, for instance, er- 
mines, martins, skunks, beavers, porcupines, hares, 
squirrels, and mice of various kinds. Of birds there 
are eagles, hawks, owls, ravens, crows, woodpeck- 
ers, grouse, partridge, pheasants, pigeons, thrushes, 
larks, swallows, cranes, bitterns, snipe, plovers, 
geese, ducks, teal, and widgeon in many varieties. 
Frogs, grubs, spiders, etc., are found in a frozen 
state as far north as latitude 6i°, and can be re- 
animated by exposure to gentle heat. White whales 
are found in considerable numbers at the mouths of 
the principal rivers; and along the coast a small 
and very delicious fish, called kipling or capelin, re- 
sorts at times in vast numbers, but this as well as 
salmon, and indeed every species of animal, whether 
fish, flesh, or fowl, is so variable in its arrival that 
the liveyeres must provide a plentiful supply at sea- 
sons when they can get it. Geese are particularly 
useful on this account, and it is not uncommon to 
kill two or three hundred at a time. 

Grasses of different sorts are not uncommon, but 
the ground is principally covered with Caledonia or 
reindeer moss, upon which the deer feed. The herb 
called Wee-suc-a-pucka grows in the interior, and 
the Indians, as well as the settlers, make a kind of 
tea from the leaves and flowers of this, called Lab- 



Jaunting anti JTi^fting 47 

rador tea, which is supposed to be extremely pal- 
atable and salutary, particularly in relieving rheu- 
matic pains, strengthening the stomach, etc. 

As the result of importation many years ago Lab- 
rador is well stocked with American rabbits, which 
make a very agreeable variety in the food of the 
natives. The nature of the soil is so peculiarly 
adapted to the habits of these animals that they have 
multiplied astonishingly, and they are alone pre- 
vented from becoming too numerous by a similar 
increase of rats, probably the progeny of those that 
have escaped from wrecks. Great numbers of the 
latter perish in the course of the winter and the 
rainy weather of the spring and autumn. During 
the early part of the summer, gulls, ducks, divers 
and other wild fowl lay an immense quantity of 
eggs on the islands, and parties from the shore fre- 
quently sail out and fill their boats with them. At 
the approach of winter these birds migrate south. 
Soon after the settlement of the New England col- 
onies, this place became a favorite resort of fisher- 
men for the purpose of killing morse and seal. The 
former are nearly exterminated, but the latter still 
afford, during the season, a favorite employment to 
the people. There are several species of the 
'Thoca" family. The male is sometimes eight feet 
long, and weighs 800 pounds; but the female is 
much smaller. The color of the former is nearly 
black, and of the latter a dark, speckled gray. Their 



48 mitb Dt* &un(tU in LaSraDot 

hair is short and rough, and on the neck of the male 
is a little longer than elsewhere. The forelegs are 
about two feet long, and the hinder ones two inches 
or so less, the feet being divided by five toes, sep- 
arated by a large web, and spreading to the extent 
of twelve inches. The seals are prodigiously strong, 
swimming at the rate of seven miles an hour, and 
are very tenacious of life, often surviving the most 
severe wounds. 

When up the rivers they live in families, each 
male being attended by several females, whom he 
guards with great jealousy. The young ones, at 
twenty days, are nearly white, and their flesh bears 
a resemblance to that of sucking pigs. The males 
when old are deserted by the females. They then 
live apart from the rest, and become exceedingly 
fierce and quarrelsome. Their contests are often 
violent and sanguinary, and they inflict wounds on 
each other not unlike the cuts of a saber. At the 
termination of one of these battles they throw them- 
selves into the sea to wash away the blood. Al- 
though by no means so numerous as they were in 
former years, seals still resort to the Labrador 
waters in great numbers. They arrive on the north- 
east coast early, for the purpose of whelping, and 
remain there for the space of a month; when the 
pups are about twenty-five days old, preparations 
are made by shore parties for attacking them. Each 
person is armed with a club, five or six feet in 



JJ)untinff anD Jfi^fting 49 

length, made of oak or ash, the butt being trans- 
fixed with a piece of steel, one end of which is 
shaped like a spike, and the other formed into a 
hook or blade. 

As the seals seldom move far at this period, the 
party approach with great caution and silence, and 
when within about 200 yards they rush in between 
the seals and the water and commence the attack. 
Each man selects the largest as the object of his par- 
ticular pursuit, and strikes him, on the back part of 
the head, several blows with the steel pike. He then 
applies the blade, in the same manner, to the wound 
thus inflicted, and repeats the blows till the animal 
is brought to the ground. The strength and fierce- 
ness of this species of seal are such that this attempt 
is not unaccompanied with danger, and when he 
turns on his pursuer he wards off the blow so dex- 
terously that he sometimes seizes the club in his 
mouth and escapes. An ordinary handspike would 
be altogether useless, and a gun is equally ineffec- 
tual. When driven off the ice the seals land again 
and are pursued in the same manner; after which 
they disappear altogether until the ensuing year. 

The chief value of the seal consists in the oil. 
When the animal is killed the fat is peeled off with 
knives, and the blubber tried out. The skin of a 
full-grown one is worth about two dollars. The 
proceeds of the sales of both the skins and the oil 



in very good years reach thousands of dollars for a 
single harbor, but this is rare. 

Sealing is exciting, whether carried on from land 
or vessel. An old sealing skipper told me the fol- 
lov^ing story of a voyage on which Dr. Grenfell ac- 
companied him: 

The ship was stuck — not "ashore" on a sand- 
bank nor ^'ketched up" on a hidden rock, but 
jammed in the ice eighty miles off the Labrador 
coast. She was the Hound, a small steamer, one of 
a hundred steamers and schooners of various sizes 
which each year compose the seal "fishery." Sixty 
years before she had been a British man-of-war with 
open decks, and her massive oak hull was a relic of 
the times when an apprentice was hung for careless 
work. She had been built with a view to perma- 
nency, not novelty ; and even now, although she had 
been jammed in a vast floe for two days, ground on 
all sides by the ice, she had thus far stood the strain, 
with only an occasional creak and the scrapings of 
her outer paint on the snow-covered ice-edge to 
show the struggle. 

The regular crew and the three hundred sealers 
were below decks, seizing their opportunity to lay 
in a stock of "grub." The cook and his boy were 
laboring under the captain's order of "Six meals a 
day, b'y, an' tea when dey waants it." On deck the 
captain stepped back and forth, talking to Doctor 
Grenfell, proud to have the genial skipper of the 



l|)unting anD Si^bim 5i 

whole coast as his shipmate. The watch in the 
crow's nest was cursing the ship's luck and wishing 
that the mate would come up and strike eight bells 
for a shift of watches; for, though the air was 
clear, it was bitter cold, and as he stood in the small 
barrel he had ceased to feel the wind blowing 
through every seam of his many-layered clothes, 
and no longer cared to stamp or fling his stiff arms. 
He felt that most of him was solid as frozen beef, 
and the cold had penetrated everywhere except his 
stomach; every breath chilled his lungs; his face 
felt like a mask and his legs like posts. 

The glaring light bounding from sun to ice and 
back hurt his eyes, even through his dark glasses; 
and it was such a hopeless task, looking, searching 
the white horizon for "swoil" (seal), until he could 
see them by thousands, and only proved the vision 
false by noticing that it appeared in whatever direc- 
tion he looked. Somewhere along the coast to the 
north, south, east or west of them, from five to a 
hundred miles away, was the colony of thousands, 
or perhaps millions of seals, mostly females with 
their new-born pups, scattered for miles on huge 
pans of ice. As the young "white-coats" usually 
arrive about March 20, they must now be about a 
week old and still timid about taking to the water. 

Upon the ability of the captain to divine where 
to go for the prey depended the success of the voy- 
age; for it is only for a few weeks that the seals 



52 Ulitb tDt* ©renfell in LabraDot 

lie most of the time upon the ice and can be killed 
by hundreds; and if during this time the ship fails 
to find them she goes back empty-handed to her 
owners, the crew have earned nothing for their 
labor except their food, and the skipper's career is 
ended. If, however, they reach a patch of seals 
before too many others arrive, they kill thousands 
and load the vessel in three days, cramming pelts 
in every conceivable corner, even tearing down the 
bunks and sleeping on top of the seals, just below 
the deck. If they reach the market at St. Johns 
safely the owners receive a certain share of the 
profits, the lucky skipper one-tenth of the whole; 
and the men share the rest, which often amounts to 
$ioo a man. 

Capt. Eli Munter had been ''goin' to d'ice" from 
his fifteenth winter to his seventy-fifth, and had al- 
ways had at least two offers of "a berth" each 
spring. In his youth he was in demand because he 
was a "rig'lar handy young feller, loose as ar' man 
on d'ice." "Still an' all," he told me modestly, 
'*dere was plenty b'ys was more active nor I." Now 
his "call" to "go master" of the biggest craft on 
the coast was his unerring ability to find the white- 
coats. "Sure I 'How Skipper Eli's h'able to smell 
swoil twice as fur agin's er can see un," maliciously 
laughed a discomfited skipper the year before when 
he had returned "clean," while Eli's decks were 
piled to the rail. So when toward night the wind 



Jaunting anD jFi0f)inff 53 

shifted and the ice began to ''go abroad" the crew 
were hearty once more, and the mate eagerly re- 
sponded to the order, ''Nort' by Eas', an' kape her 
to it. Extry han' a for'ard in d'head of her." 

All night they pushed on full speed ahead, against 
the stiff wind which swept the ice southward by 
them in a steady volley. Many slight shocks woke 
the trained crew and set half of them pulling on 
their boots, only to learn that no damage had been 
done. The captain slept the first half of the night, 
and Dr. Grenfell turned in also, though, owing to 
his years as skipper of his hospital steamer, the 
Strathcona, he woke at each change of watch and 
every slight collision, ready for any emergency; 
then, as further evidence of his sailor's training, 
he promptly fell asleep again. He had finished his 
slumbers by four o'clock and turned out with the 
captain. 

'* 'Tis a civil marnin', sir," said the skipper. "Ye 
see, when a man has d'v'yage o' dis one on his moin' 
er can't res' easy; but I was 'llowin' you'd take a 
spell, sir. You does a martal sight o' work enough 
to merit a res'." 

"Well, I can't lie still when there's anything to 
be done. Besides six hours is all I need. I wanted 
to see how far along we were. We ought to hit 
the seals to-day." The running ice began to close 
up because of the opposite wind and tide, and later 
the dawn revealed another huge field of ice glimrner- 



54 Olitj) Dr* &tmUll in ILaljraDot 

ing painfully. As the ship approached the men 
made out immense pans of ice a mile or more long, 
surrounded by countless smaller ones between which 
the ship made her way. Some flocks of ducks 
seemed to be ''pitched" on the ice; but when the 
captain saw them he seized his glass and eagerly 
climbed the rigging. ''Ah, den, b'ys," he chuckled, 
as he climbed leisurely down, "we're as good as 
loaded, whatever. Dem swoils is so t'ick as floys on 
a caribou wid de itch." And the news ran down 
into the forecastle. 

"All ban's git to rights," sang out the mate, and 
all was hustling preparation, the men strapping 
fagots of firewood on their shoulders and filling 
their sealskin nunny-bags with hard bread and 'lassy 
pork buns, while others sharpened their "gaffs" or 
boat-hooks, and iron-shod clubs. The ship now 
found herself in a blind lead, so the ice-grapnels 
were thrown out and all hands except the captain 
and cook leapt over the side. 

A few expert shots were armed with rifles and, 
from a short distance, shot many of the old seals. 
The majority hurried on over the hummocky sur- 
face until they reached the crying white-coats and 
then began "swatching," killing the defenseless 
creatures with their clubs, and with their sheath- 
knives cutting out the flesh and leaving the skin and 
the layer of fat next it. These "pelts" were quickly 
"panned" or piled up, and the army went on. 



punting anD Jfi0l)ing 55 

Dr. Grenfell soon wearied of this hideous slaugh- 
ter and even found shooting the parent seals rather 
tame, so he gave his gun to a grateful old sealer and 
advanced with the first men to attack the old 
"harps" with his iron-shod club. These fight stub- 
bornly for their young, and with their swift dodg- 
ing and powerful blows with bared tusks prove a 
good match for an active man. After a battle of 
twenty minutes, during which he perspired danger- 
ously in spite of the cold. Dr. Grenfell killed a large 
harp, and had just bathed his boots in the hot car- 
cass to warm his feet when he perceived a big dog 
hood-seal a few rods distant, attacked by a young 
fellow who evidently had been ignorant of the dan- 
ger of this species. Although the boy was using his 
club with all his strength, the inflated bladder, or 
hood, protected the seal's most vulnerable parts — 
the nose and skull; and by clever dodging the beast 
caught all blows on this hood, thus fending them 
from his body. At every opportunity he shot out 
his neck to gash the man's legs with his tusks, and 
was steadily driving him toward the water. 

Dr. Grenfell ran to the boy's aid, and dodged 
back and forth in a futile attempt to deal a death- 
blow. At last when the seal struck at the boy the 
doctor got in a quick blow just back of the neck, 
and they added the largest pelt thus far panned — 
eleven feet long — to the nearest pile. 

Through the constant addition of small pans the 



56 mUb Dr* &tm(tll in HaliraDor 

floe was now about five miles broad, and Dr. Gren- 
fell with fifty others had pushed on nearly to its 
edge. They were still working away, and Dr. Gren- 
fell had hacked forty-five notches in his gaff, when 
darkness began to descend with northern rapidity, 
and the party turned toward the ship, judging the 
direction by sense only. The pan on which they 
were was a mile broad ; and they hurried across it. 
With horror they found that it no longer lay next 
to the others, but that a slight shift of wind had 
scattered the whole floe and their pan was at least a 
quarter mile from any other. The ship was, of 
course, out of sight. All sorts of suggestions were 
made by those coming up. When they realized that 
nothing could be done, their hopeless condition and 
the fatigue of the day were almost too much, and 
they sat about in spiritless agony. 

Dr. Grenfell was not a bit weighed down. "Come 
on, don't mooch (be idle)," he said gaily. "Skipper 
Eli won't go off without us, you know. It's not the 
first time we've spent a night in the open. Let's get 
a fire here and boil the kettle." There was one in 
the group. He soon had the whole crowd playing 
leap-frog; and the night was spent in trials of 
strength and games. 

The steamer cruised about for half the night, 
having picked up the rest of the men; then, fearing 
to lose her position altogether, she lay to until morn- 
ing. About dawn the men were sighted and taken 



IDuntittg anO JFi0i)ing 57 

aboard, a thoroughly hungry and cold, but not dis- 
heartened lot, ready to load the steamer with their 
kill of the day before, and thankful to the doctor 
for ''keepin' we to rights." 

Hamilton Inlet is a good field for shooting. Dur- 
ing a brief trip there we separated into two parties, 
one to camp out over night near a swamp and shoot 
geese, while another was to shoot up a brook and 
sleep at a small native house. The Inlet (otherwise 
called Eskimo or Grosswater Bay) is a hundred and 
fifty miles long, connecting Northwest River with 
the sea. We chose a region near a cove called 
Tikoralik, not very far from the settlement of Rigo- 
let. (It would have been possible to get men from 
the Hudson Bay post there to take us up the bay, 
but fortunately we had our own boat.) 

The party out for geese had a long wait but were 
eventually rewarded by good shots at several flights 
which, thanks to skilful work, Dr. Grenfell excel- 
ling, for he is a wonderful shot, resulted in a change 
in our larder from canned and salted food and fish. 
The brook party set out along the beach, keeping 
back in patches of tall grass and young fir-trees; 
this section inland and along the bay being well 
wooded. We saw several yellow-legs, which we 
stalked and shot, when we could sufficiently approx- 
imate them. Our attempts were made in a very 
unostentatious manner, we wriggling along on the 
ground. I lived half the time in mortal terror lest 



58 mUb Dr* ©tenfell in JLafiraDot 

my partner should cock his gun too soon, and catch 
the trigger in the grass as he sHd through the marsh 
behind me. His state of mind was probably much 
the same, so we each managed to save the other's 
life by not shooting him. 

We got several yellow-legs and a bunch of tender 
beach-birds. Further on some ducks sailed down 
the little valley in which flowed the brook which we 
were following. Half hidden by the underbrush 
along the banks, we waited in panting excitement 
until they were nearly opposite, and our volley 
caught them before they were able to turn. 

Seeing no more birds we turned our attention to 
the brook itself, and soon found a pool in which 
trout were jumping. We used mainly "Silver Doc- 
tor" flies, but even caught several with the native 
equipment: a hook with a bit of red flannel. By 
five o'clock we had seventy-seven, and they were 
still coming. Many of them weighed two pounds 
each. 

Reaching a little liveyere's house at dark, we were 
entertained with unstinted hospitality, and were 
soon enjoying a glorious supper of pink brook 
trout, bread and butter ; the latter proving the fam- 
ily very prosperous. After a sleep in a wooden-box 
bed, we stepped out on a deer-skin rug, bathed with 
spring-water, breakfasted on another mess of trout, 
and were off. It seemed that our occupation of the 
"spare-room" had caused the adult members of the 



l^unting anO JFi^fting 59 

family to sleep in the common living-room and 
kitchen. 

That morning we shot more birds and caught 
more trout in the same pool. Cooking them over a 
log-fire gave a welcome heat, for it was a cold day ; 
in fact, a little snow had fallen during the morning, 
and all the little pools in the marsh were frozen 
over. We got back on board late in the afternoon, 
and admired the goodly stock of geese, ducks, shell- 
birds and jack-snipe caught by the other party. 

Another trip, from Battle Harbor, took us up 
Lewis Inlet, which runs thirty miles inland at that 
point. Trees began to show themselves, very low 
ones, succeeded by taller and taller trunks as we 
got farther from the coast. When we landed occa- 
sionally we noticed several fresh bear-tracks, and 
much regretted that we could not stop to hunt the 
owners. Birds flew around and over us as we went 
along, including gulls, kitewakes, and "pigeons"; 
and we saw two or three bay-seals swimming in the 
still water, but were not near enough to shoot them. 

In general the farther north one hunts the better. 
One party hunted for a day near Port Manvers, half 
on the mainland and the others on Black Island. 
They had two settlers as guides ; and secured a black 
bear and a caribou before noon. 

The officers of a German battleship which vis- 
ited these waters had similar luck. In addition they 
shot, not far south of Cape Chidley, four polar 



6o mit\) Dr* (Srcnfcll in LaftraDor 

bears. North Labrador is now the only practical 
point for this game ; but only five years ago a polar 
bear actually landed a few miles south of the north- 
ern tip of Newfoundland, crossed to the Straits 
and swam off again. 



CHAPTER IV 

COMMERCIAL LABRADOR 

Labrador is a country which is perhaps remark- 
able in the simplicity of its economic organization. 
Fishing is, of course, the chief industry. This is 
carried on by two classes of people— the perma- 
nent inhabitants, and the fishermen who visit the 
coast in the summer. The latter come usually in 
schooners, each year in increasing numbers, so that 
now over a thousand vessels visit the coast each 
season. Formerly a large number of Gloucester 
fishermen were found on the coast, but now, al- 
though there are a number on the Banks, there are 
few further north. The number of Nova Scotia 
men is also lessening; and the majority of the vis- 
itors are Newfoundlanders. In many cases the 
crew is composed of sons and cousins, with the 
father as skipper. Their vessels are made of the 
soft northern timber, spruce or larch, and often are 
built by the members of the family themselves in 
their own little cove, only the rigging and fittings 
being imported. 

The visiting fishermen who come in schooners 

6i 



62 MJitft Dn (Stenfell in LaSraDor 

almost always carry their fish south "green," that 
is, treated with salt alone. On reaching St. Johns 
or the outports of Newfoundland it is then properly 
cured in the sun, which produces much better fish 
than the lack of sun allows on the Labrador coast. 

In addition to the sailing fishermen, there are 
many hundreds of people who come in families to 
the coast, either as passengers on the schooners, 
on the early mail boats, or as freighters brought 
in wholesale lots in the traders' steam vessels and 
distributed along the coast. These people live in 
the most temporary shacks and fish from the shore 
in small boats with hand lines, or set trap-nets. In 
most cases their welfare is looked out for to a 
certain extent by, and their catch is turned over 
to, one of the large traders. 

Both among the sailing crews and on shore, a 
very curious relation between master and employed 
is found. This is known as the *'share system." 
The skipper usually taking most of the risk finan- 
cially, and providing both the gear and provisions 
as well as the brains, is naturally entitled to the 
larger part of the returns. Accordingly the net 
proceeds are divided into two parts; the skipper 
takes half, and the other half is divided equally 
among the men of the crew, including the skipper. 
For example, if the skipper has two men, and 
catches 300 quintals, his share is 200 and that of 
the men 50 each. 



Commercial LafiraDot 63 

Farther north the system is slightly different, the 
skipper taking only half the fish and dividing the 
remainder between the share-men. There is often 
a ship's boy who cooks and does sundry work, but 
is not considered to be earning a man's share, and 
so is given a small lump sum for the season, or as 
"five-quintal boy" receives five quintals out of every 
hundred caught. Sometimes crews have boys on 
half-share or quarter-share; and men minus an arm 
or otherwise deficient come under a similar head- 
ing, whereas a man owning a part of the net re- 
ceives two shares or more : so that the calculation 
of shares becomes a problem which often has to be 
referred to the doctor. I recommend examples 
like the above to makers of arithmetics, as a change 
from Johnny and the Apples. 

On land there are many large and small fishing 
establishments known as fishing ''rooms." Each 
of these is run exactly like a ship, the master being 
called the skipper and his men the crew. They 
are at his orders night and day, and are paid on 
the share system. It can easily be seen that in a 
bad year, when little or no fish is caught, the share- 
men, like the independent fishermen, find themselves 
with practically nothing as a result of their sea- 
son's work, with which to face the winter. Some 
few avoid this risk, and at the same time forfeit 
the gambling chance of a large catch, by shipping 
with one of the big traders for wages. The share- 



64 mitb Dr* (3unftn in LafiraDor 

system is more frequent, however, and extends most 
largely through the relation of the traders to their 
so-called ''planters," who are outfitted more or less 
free, for a share of the catch. 

Very naturally the leading families of the coast 
are those which own the "rooms" and the vessels. 
Members of the poorer families hire themselves 
out. In each "room" there are one or two women 
who assist the skipper's wife and daughters in the 
culinary department of the establishment. They 
also share in the work of curing the fish; and the 
salting, which is a very exact operation, is fre- 
quently done by a woman. Unfortunately, the cook 
on many of the vessels is also often a woman, but 
the number of these, except in cases where the 
skipper's daughter travels with him, is gradually 
being lessened. The difficulty is, of course, that, 
with the extremely limited living accommodations 
in the cabin, there is very little privacy; and the 
lack of another woman associate is also unfortu- 
nate. 

The commercial part of the fishery is carried 
on chiefly by seven or eight large firms with head- 
quarters in St. Johns. They have vessels which 
visit the various harbors and gather the cured fish 
both from the people themselves and from the local 
agents. These tramp steamers then carry the fish 
either to St. Johns to be resold, or direct across 
the ocean to the Mediterranean, where it finds a 



Commercial Laftralior 6s 

sale in Greece and the Azores. Very little of the 
fish is exported to America, because it is not suf- 
ficiently well cured to be able to compete with the 
Norwegian and Gloucester product. 

Much smaller in extent is the salmon fishery 
which is carried on in the northern bays by fam- 
ilies. There are rather fewer crews engaged in this 
branch of work, but the trading companies pursue 
it at Cartwright, Rigolet and various other places. 
The salmon are smoked or salted, enclosed in large 
barrels called tierces and then shipped south. 

The only other industry of any size is the fur 
trade, in which the majority of permanent fisher- 
men engage to greater or less extent during the 
winter. They are usually outfitted by the traders, 
but work by families;" living isolated at distances of 
15 or 20 miles apart. The majority of the furs 
are eventually bought by the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany or its recent rival, Revillon Freres. This latter 
company has established a post practically next 
door to each of the Hudson Bay Company stations 
and, in its zeal for competition, has in some cases 
raised the price of furs bought from the catcher to 
a point equal to their price in New York. In the 
majority of cases, however, the conditions enable 
both companies to buy the fur at considerably less 
than its value further south. 

Judging from the old records and from personal 
recent experience, the amount of furring on the 



Labrador is far less than formerly, and even than 
fifty years ago. The reasons are deforestation by 
fire and consequent dying out of fur-bearing and 
edible animals, causing the dying out of large num- 
bers of Indians and the turning of more whites to 
fishing, hence in turn less trapping. In fact, rather 
curiously the dying off of the Indians has again 
made game plentiful in parts of northern Labrador, 
and revived hunting, only to lessen the game again. 
This cycle has transpired repeatedly in the history 
of the north. 

The furs caught in Labrador have the world-wide 
reputation of being the best in North America, ex- 
cept for muskrats; they are generally firmer and 
of a richer, darker coloring. The principal species 
are red, white, cross and silver foxes, marten, mink, 
otter, black bear, lynx, beaver, wolverine and wolf. 

The firm of Revillon Freres has one main sta- 
tion in Labrador, in charge of the factor. Fifty to 
a hundred miles distant are outposts, each in charge 
of a white-man or half-breed, and regularly visited 
once a year by the Post-Manager. The main sta- 
tion receives its goods and supplies once a year, in 
August, by a sailing vessel. 

How much business this company and the Hud- 
son Bay Company, together with occasional traders, 
do on the coast each year is hard to say, and varies 
greatly from year to year, but the average value 



Commetcial ILafiraDot 67 

of the furs taken out of Labrador each year is 
over $200,000. 

For people who Hve in poor furring sections 
toward the south, or who strike an off year, or for 
men who have failed in the fishing, there remains 
hardly any other occupation, and for this reason the 
winter was for years, and still is to many, a season 
very greatly to be dreaded. Gruesome tales are 
still told which have been proved to be absolutely 
true, of men who, having exhausted their provi- 
sions, run out of powder and shot, and failed to get 
help from distant and equally needy neighbors, have 
finally disposed of their families and themselves 
with an axe, in order to avoid starvation. Only 
last winter a northern hunter was found standing 
up against a tree, frozen to death, chiefly because 
he was in an extremely weak condition from lack of 
food. Dr. Grieve, on his northern trip in the win- 
ter, always finds a number of families already re- 
duced to rations of plain flour, and often a few with 
no flour even, subsisting on rock cod caught through 
deep holes in the harbor ice. They have nothing 
to turn over to the trader in exchange for further 
supplies, and in fact not infrequently the trader 
has already advanced them practically all he has. 
These conditions will of course only be reme- 
died when some other means of liveHhood is in- 
troduced for the sustenance of the people in the 
winter. Owing to the lack of demand, extremely 



68 mith Dr. ©tenfell in LafiraDot 

low wages prevail when men are hired. A few 
years ago it was possible to hire a man for the en- 
tire winter of seven or eight months for $12 and 
his keep, and even now little more than actual food 
and clothing can be obtained by a man for his 
services in winter. It is for this reason that Dr. 
Grenfell has established the mill at Inglee in Canada 
Bay, where men whose summer catch has been a 
blank, and whose families might otherwise starve or 
suffer extreme want, are given an opportunity to 
work during the winter. 

Dr. Grenfell is responsible for the chief efforts 
to increase and better the industrial activities of 
the coast. Of major importance is his work in 
establishing cooperative stores. With the people 
scattered and in many cases illiterate, the traders 
have in the past been able to take serious advantage 
of them. The worst result of this has been the 
prevalence of the truck or barter system of trade, 
under which men turned over their fish and furs 
and received in return their supplies for the winter, 
consisting of flour, salt pork, molasses and tea. I 
saw several men on the coast who had never seen 
silver or paper money. The result is that the fisher- 
man is continually in ignorance of his exact stand- 
ing and in fact or belief continually in debt. Com- 
petition by other traders is killed because a man 
once in debt finds it necessary to turn over all his 
products to his creditor. Debt is handed down 



Commetcial ILafitaDot 69 

from father to son, and amounts in many cases al- 
most to slavery. 

The system also keeps the people poor and ill- 
nourished and is responsible for a large part of 
the disease with which the hospitals have to con- 
tend. Regulation of this trade is more or less out 
of the question. A law has been passed in New- 
foundland prohibiting trucking, or trading without 
cash, but in a country like Labrador its enforcement 
is impossible. Even the very men who would be 
benefited by it are afraid to implore its aid, for fear 
of the traders' wrath. 

The only way out of the difficulty was to render 
the fishermen independent of the traders and in a 
large measure this has been accomplished. At 
Red Bay you will see a little one-story store which 
last year, in spite of an exceedingly poor fishery, 
did a successful business and constructively main- 
tained its members in comparative plenty. This 
same store pays its fishermen members an average 
of 30 per cent, dividends on their stock. It was 
this same store which was organized first by a 
dozen fearsome fishermen who conducted their 
work in secrecy, in order that, if the enterprise 
failed, the trader would not let them starve the 
following winter. Six or seven other cooperative 
stores have been established, and, with one or two 
exceptions, have been extremely successful under 
native managers. The only exceptions were due to' 



70 Uiitb Dt* &tmttll in ILa6raDar 

the excessive kind-heartedness of the manager, who 
against his better judgment gave advance credit 
to people in extreme need. 

The stores succeed because they buy the fish from 
their members for cash, export it themselves to 
the South and import outfits and food at the low- 
est possible prices. The profits are then divided 
among the fishermen members, thus reducing their 
outlay considerably. This work is absolutely sepa- 
rate from the International Medical Mission. 

The second effect of the stores has been indirect. 
Through their means, competition has been insti- 
tuted, which makes it practically possible for any 
man on the coast to obtain cash for his products. 
The traders' prices have also been very greatly 
lowered and their standards of business consider- 
ably improved. 

Further industrial work has been carried on at 
one or two of the Mission stations. The weaving 
of homespun has been taught, and — even more 
hopeful — this work has been extended by the people 
themselves into other communities. Many of the 
men are excellent carpenters and they have built 
their own looms after the models, and those who 
have had the advantage of training have taught 
others. When the spread of reindeer makes possi- 
ble the introduction of other domestic animals, such 
as sheep, this knowledge will greatly improve the 
living conditions of the people. 



Commetcial LafttaDot 71 

Local pottery has been made and carving has 
been taught, and for all these products there is 
more demand in America and Canada than can be 
supplied for a considerable time. Recently an ef- 
fort has been made to teach some of the people the 
cutting and polishing of labradorite, a beautiful 
iridescent stone found in considerable quantities 
on the coast. In the Straits, at several ports, an 
industry for the manufacture of sealskin boots 
flourishes, and here also the output is less than the 
demand. As I write this, word comes from Dr. 
Grenfell that the sawmill has made several addi- 
tions to increase its output, and that the coopera- 
tive store at St. Anthony has been reorganized and 
is doing a large business. 



CHAPTER V 



EXPLORATION 



Labrador is one of the least explored and mapped 
countries remaining. There are thousands of square 
miles as yet untrod by civilized men. When one 
considers its comparative nearness to the thickly 
populated regions of North America, there is no 
country which compares with it in virginity. 

The Eskimo have, as far as men know, never 
hunted far inland. The two tribes of Indians have 
roamed at will, but there are probably many areas 
that even they have not seen — sections away from 
the waterways and several regions which their tra- 
ditions regard as inhabited by the Evil Spirit. 

In former days the Hudson Bay Company had 
several posts in the interior of northern Labrador, 
now abandoned, and their factors made many long 
inland trips with the Indians. Most of these trips 
are now a matter of hazy tradition and conjecture. 
The Moravian missionaries, who for several hun- 
dred years have taken good care of the Eskimo, 
have traveled little inland, but some Catholic mis- 
sionaries have come in long ago from Canada. 

72 



aEjplotatiott 73 

A United States Ethnological Bureau expedi- 
tion has explored some of the territory. Sev- 
eral parties have crossed from Quebec to the Labra- 
dor coast. A summary of these trips is given by 
Mr. Cabot in "Northern Labrador." But Labra- 
dor presents to-day vast opportunities for original 
research to both amateur and scientific explorers. 
Especially in science is the field open. 

One of the earliest scientific explorations was 
led to Labrador in 1891 by the late Leslie A. Lee, 
Ph.D., Professor of Geology in Bowdoin College 
and State Geologist of Maine. He had previously 
been in charge of scientific work on the Albatross, 
United States Fish Commission steamer, during an 
expedition to South America, and was a noted man 
of science well qualified for the task. In their own 
vessel his party of twenty scientific men explored 
the Labrador coast as far as Hopedale and secured 
excellent and exact ethnological and biological data. 

Four of his men explored the Northwest and 
Grand Rivers and discovered a wonderful gorge 
which they named Bowdoin Canon, and were the 
first to measure, photograph and record the Grand 
Falls, a cascade rivaling Niagara and twice as high. 
The falls were known to tradition as having been 
seen by two employees of the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany. A Mr. Holmes from England attempted in 
1888 to reach the falls, without success. Soon 
after the Bowdoin Expedition's trip a Philadelphia 



74 Mitb Dr* ©renfell in iLafiraOot 

party went in and reached the falls; and in 19 lo 
a party of Yale men repeated the feat. 

Extreme hardships were borne by Professor 
Lee's men, as the story is modestly told by one of 
the party. 

Nine miles were made the day of the first carry 
and camp was reached at the beginning of rough 
water on the Horse Shoe Rapid. Here the first 
evidence of shoes giving out was seen. Constant 
use over rough rocks while wet proved too much 
for even the strongest shoes, and when Gary and 
Cole returned there was not leather enough between 
them to make one decent shoe. Rain made the 
night uncomfortable, as the light shelter tent let 
water through very easily and was then of little 
use. At other times the camps were very comforta- 
ble. Upon arriving at the spot selected, two men 
would at once set about preparing their brush for 
beds, pitching the tent, etc., while the other pro- 
vided wood for the camp and for the cook, in which 
capacity Cary officiated. 

The party believed that a good night's rest was 
indispensable where the day was filled with the 
hardest kind of labor, and spared no pains to se- 
cure it. Even on the return Cary and Cole, when 
half starved, stuck to their practice of making com- 
fortable camps, and it is probable that the wonder- 
ful way they held out under their privations was 
largely due to this. While many in their predica- 



dE^pIoration 75 

ment would have thrown away their blankets, they 
kept them and on every cold and stormy night con- 
gratulated themselves that they had done so. 

At Horse Shoe Rapids the first accident hap- 
pened. Tracking there was extremely difficult and 
dangerous. Shortly after dinner a carry was made, 
taking three and a half hours to track out a path 
up and along a terrace about fifty feet high. Shortly 
after this the boat used by Gary and Smith cap- 
sized, emptying its load into the river. At the same 
time Gary was carried from his footing and just 
managed to grasp the line as he came up, and escape 
being borne down the stream. When things were 
collected, and an inventory taken of the loss, it was 
found to include about one- fourth of the provisions, 
the barometer and chronometer rendered useless 
and practically lost, measuring chain, cooking uten- 
sils, rifles, with much of the ammunition, axe and 
small stores lost. One day was used in making the 
length of the lake, and at the camp at its head 
Young and Smith turned back. 

A very badly swelled hand and arm caused by 
jamming his thumb had prevented Young from 
getting any sleep, and threatened speedily to become 
worse. This, in connection with the loss of pro- 
visions in the upset, made it expedient to send 
the two men back. The returning party was given 
the best boat, the best of the outfit and provisions 
for six days, in which they could easily reach the 



76 mitb Dr* ©renfell in LaftraDor 

mouth of the river. Meantime Gary and Cole 
pushed on into what was to prove the most eventful 
part of their journey. 

The lake is simply the river valley with the ter- 
races cleaned out, and was probably made when the 
river was much higher, at a time not far removed 
from the glacial period. The head of the lake is 
full of sand bars and shoals, much resembling the 
mouth of the river as it opens out into Goose Bay. 
On both sides of the lake mountains rise steeply 
for i,ooo or 1,200 feet. Its average width is from 
two to three miles and it has three long bends or 
curves. Only one deep valley breaks the precipi- 
tous sides, but many streams flow in over the ridge, 
making beautiful waterfalls. 

On Monday, the last day's advance in the boats 
was made, the water becoming too swift to be 
stemmed. This day Gary got the second ducking of 
the trip — a very good record in view of the rough- 
ness of the work and the smallness of the boats. 
During this and the day previous an otter, a crow 
and a robin were seen. 

The next day the boats and the provisions, ex- 
cepting a six days' supply carried in the packs, were 
carefully cached, and at 10:45 camp was left and 
the memorable tramp began. Each man carried 
twenty-five pounds. The stream was followed a 
short distance, then the abrupt ascent to the plateau 
climbed, old river beaches being found all the way 



OBjeploratiPn 77 

up. From a birch knoll the river was in view for 
quite a distance and a large branch was seen mak- 
ing in from the west. 

At 1 1 145 a. m. the Grand Falls were first seen. 
The falls proper are about 200 feet high and just 
above the river narrows from 250 to 50 yards, 
the water shooting over a somewhat gradual down- 
ward course and then plunging straight down, with 
terrific force, the distance mentioned, and with an 
immense volume. The fall must be grander at other 
seasons, for, while the party was there, the ground 
quaked with the shock of the descending stream, 
and the river was nearly at its lowest point. At the 
bottom is a large pool made by the change of direc- 
tion of the river from south, at and about the falls, 
to nearly east below. The canon begins at the pool 
and extends, with many turns and windings, for 
twenty-five miles through Archean rock. Above the 
falls in the wide rapids, the bed is of the same rock, 
which seems to underlie the whole plateau. 

The very fact of having succeeded made the re- 
turn distance shorter and fatigue more easily borne, 
so they traveled along at a brisk pace, surveying 
at times, and little thinking of the disaster that had 
befallen them. Camp was made on the river bank, 
beneath one of the terraces which lined both sides. 

When they arose the march back to the best cache 
was resumed. Toward night, as they approached 
the place, smoke was seen rising from the ground. 



78 mitb Dn #renfell in LabraDor 

and, fearing evil, the men broke into a run during 
the last two miles. As Gary's journal puts it: 

"We arrived at our camp to find boat and 
stores burnt and the fire still smoking and 
spreading. Cole arrives first, and as I come 
thrashing through the bushes he sits on a rock 
munching some burnt flour. He announces 
with an unsteady voice: 'Well, she's gone.' 
We say not much, nothing that indicates poor 
courage, but go about to find what we can in 
the wreck, and pack up for a tramp down river. 
In an hour we have picked out everything use- 
ful, including my money, nails, thread and 
damaged provisions, and are on the way down 
river hoping to pass the rapids before dark, 
starting at 5." 

The extinguished camp-fire had crept underneath 
through the peaty soil. Their position was certainly 
disheartening. They were 150 miles from their 
nearest cache, and nearly 300 miles from the nearest 
settlement, already greatly used up, needing rest and 
plenty of food, with boat and provisions burnt. 

The next day the battle for life began. This 
day several trout were caught, line and hooks being 
part of each man's outfit, and two square meals 
enjoyed, which proved the last for a week. A raft 
was made that would not float the men and baggage, 
and being somewhat discouraged on the subject of 



dEiplotation 79 

rafting by the failure, the men did not then at- 
tempt another, but continued tramping. Following 
the river, they found its general course, between 
the rapids and Lake Wanimikapo, S. S. E. During 
part of that day and all the next they followed in 
the track of a large panther, but did not get sight 
of him. 

After this some time every morning was usually 
occupied in mending shoes. All sorts of devices 
were resorted to to get the last bit of wear out of 
them, even to shifting from right to left; but finally 
Cole had to make a pair of nondescripts from the 
leather lining of his pack. Cranberries were found 
during the day and at intervals during the tramp, 
and were always drawn upon for a meal. About 
two quarts were added to the stock of provision, 
and a supper was made of a red squirrel and a pint 
of stewed cranberries. It was a long gruelling trip 
to the coast, entailing great hardship. 

Finally they reached the schooner and their jour- 
ney was done. Seventeen days had been used in 
making the 300 miles, all but seventy-five of which 
were covered afoot. When they came in, besides 
the blankets, cooking tins and instruments, nothing 
remained of the outfit with which they started on 
the return except three matches and one cartridge 
for the revolver, which, in Cole's hands, had proved 
their mainstay from absolute starvation. 

As they climbed over the side of the vessel in the 



8o mith Dr* ©renfell in JLaSraDor 

harbor they were nearly deafened with exclamations 
that their appearance called out, and by the ques- 
tions that were showered on them. At last some 
order was restored, and after pictures had been 
made of them just as they came aboard, dressed in 
sealskin cassock, ragged remnants of trousers and 
shirts, they were given an opportunity to make 
themselves comfortable and eat supper, and then 
the professor took them into the cabin to receive an 
account of their work. 

It was many days before their haggard appear- 
ance, with sunken eyes and dark rings beneath 
them, and their extreme weakness, disappeared. 

Meantime the vessel had explored further parts 
of the coast. At Northern River Professor Lee 
very fortunately encountered a camp of Montagnais 
Indians. Measurements of some twenty-five of this 
nation, heretofore unknown to anthropometric sci- 
ence, were made, and a full collection of the house- 
hold utensils peculiar to their tribe was procured. 
Several "Nascopies" were among them and were 
also measured. 

The only remains of the picturesque national 
costume that they saw was the cap. The women 
wore a curious knot of hair, about the size of a 
small Qgg, over each ear, while the men wore their 
hair cut off straight around, a few inches above 
the shoulders. 

Some curious scenes were enacted while Profes- 




fn 



OBjeploration Si 

sor Lee was trading for his desired ethnological 
material. With inexhaustible patience and imper- 
turbable countenance, he sat on a log, surrounded 
by yelping dogs, and by children and papooses of 
more or less tender ages and scanty raiment, play- 
ing on ten-cent harmonicas that had for a time 
served as a staple of trade, struggling with the dogs 
and with their equally excited mothers and sisters 
for a sight of the wonderful basket from whose ap- 
parently inexhaustible depths came forth yet more 
harmonicas, sets of celluloid jewelry, knives, combs, 
fish-hooks, needles, etc., ad infinitum. The men, 
whose gravity equaled the delight of the women 
and children, held themselves somewhat aloof, sel- 
dom deigning to enter the circle about the magic 
basket, and making their trades in a very dignified 
and careless fashion. 

That these people are capable of civilization there 
can be no doubt. Missing the interpreter, without 
whom nothing could be done, the professor in- 
quired for him and learned that he had returned 
to his wigwam. Upon being summoned he said he 
was tired of talking; thereupon the professor be- 
thought himself and asked him if he wanted more 
pay. The interpreter, no longer tired, was willing 
to talk all night. 

At Eskimo Island, at the eastern end of the lake, 
a stop was made and a few bones dug up from the 
Eskimo graves that abound there. 



82 mitb Dr* (Srenfell m Labtatior 

About fifty Eskimo were measured and photo- 
graphed ; three large houses, comprising the ancient 
Eskimo village of "Avatoke," which means "May- 
we-have-swalex," i. e., seals, were surveyed, pho- 
tographed and then thoroughly excavated. All this 
was under the leadership of the Professor. Other 
parties led by the Captain made trips into the neigh- 
boring sounds and bays and secured quite a lot of 
codfish; and the evenings were very pleasantly 
spent cultivating the acquaintance of the Moravian 
missionaries. 

The remains of the village of "Avatoke" have 
been deserted for over loo years and the village 
was in its prime centuries before that. The out- 
lines of their houses, roughly eight-sided, about 
thirty-six feet across, and each having a long nar- 
row entrance, are marked by walls now about five 
feet high and ten feet thick. In front of this row 
of houses, which look toward the sea, are shell 
heaps of considerable depth and extent, abounding 
in broken implements, pottery and bones. 

While part of the force were employed carefully 
raking over these heaps of ''kitchen midden," others 
were measuring the walls, excavating them and also 
the floors, which were beautifully laid with immense 
flag stones, making photographs and identifying 
and labeling the finds. 

Small carvings of walrus ivory, stone lamps^ por- 
tions of komatik runners and harness, needles, 



(JExploratiPn 83 

whetstones, arrow heads, portions of seal spears, 
of kyaks and bones innumerable were among the 

finds. 

Professor Lee's expedition was the forerunner 
of several others, including that of Hubbard and 
Wallace, and it serves to illustrate definitely what 
will be done in the future. A group of scientific 
men or pleasure-seekers or both, even if they 
have only a summer at their disposal, will find 
in Labrador an almost unlimited field, accessible 
in a practical way. By hiring a fishing schooner at 
St. Johns, or better one of Dr. Grenfell's sailing 
vessels with auxiliary motor, they can leisurely 
cruise the coast, finding a good harbor available 
each night. Or they can sail straight to Ungava 
or Hudson Bay, or across to Baffin Land. In the 
latter regions the Eskimo are still more primitive. 

I have recently seen remains of ancient Eskimo 
villages, of glacial beaches and upheavals, and the 
breeding islands where thousands of ducks nest. 
Even near Rigolette I found very old Eskimo 
graves, and although this place had been frequently 
visited there were still parts of skeletons, bone im- 
plements and stone vessels. 

Such a schooner as mentioned above is provided 
with her own crew and a skipper who knows the 
coast thoroughly. A trip of this kind is entirely 
safe. With increasing knowledge of the interior, 
there is much less danger there than formerly. The 



84 MJitf) Dr* ©renfell in JLafiraDor 

best plan for hunting or exploring seems to be that 
pursued with great success by the Yale party, who 
brought with them trained Canadian guides and 
Micmac Indians. These men make much better 
servants than the Labrador liveyeres because they 
are more accustomed to that part of the work. For 
aid in traveling and as pilots, the party of course 
found Labrador liveyeres or half-breed Indians ab- 
solutely necessary, because of their local knowledge. 
A small party or one which does not care strongly 
for luxuries and comfort can conveniently use them 
alone. With very few exceptions the Newfound- 
landers know absolutely nothing about the interior 
of Labrador; but the coast they know well. 

For real excitement a party planned to stay for 
the winter in northern Labrador has great possibili- 
ties. Early arrangements would have to be made 
to secure the services of one or more experienced 
natives and their dog-teams. Trips such as that of 
Dr. Grieve from Battle Harbor to Nain, and those 
taken by the Hudson Bay and Revillon factors, 
over the coast range of hills and the long stretches 
of sea ice, provide thrills of adventure decidedly 
worth while. 




DR. GRENFELL IN SEALSKINS 



Facing page 85 



CHAPTER VI 

THE LABRADOR MEDICAL MISSION 

Dr. Grenfell states in one of his books that *'the 
raison d'etre of the Mission * is to commend to men 
who daily face the perils and privations of the sea 
the Gospel of Christ, as the practical rule of life.'' 
This statement needs explanation. Although as it 
shows, Dr. Grenfell's motive is religious and deeply 
so, his Mission would never be recognized as a *'Gos- 
pel Mission." He does not seek, as the conven- 
tional missionaries do, to "save" men by supplant- 
ing their own religion, by whose tenets they actually 
live, with another which for the majority of its ad- 
herents is chiefly a matter of form. Dr. Grenfell 
says further "from the beginning of this work, no 
man has ever been engaged in the capacity of priest 
or clergyman." So, although the spirit of the Mis- 
sion is religious, its actual work is very material, 
with the medical side as the basis. 

In 1892 Dr. Grenfell, who had made an ex- 
cellent record in establishing medical work in the 

* Recently reorganized under the name of The Interna- 
tional Medical Mission. 

85 



86 mUb Dt* (Stcnfell in ILabctiDot 

Gospel ships with the fishing fleet in the North Sea, 
and had shown his abihty as a fighter by putting out 
of business the rum-ships that traveled with the 
fleet, was sent to Labrador by his Society, the Royal 
National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen. He 
came over in charge (being a qualified Master 
Mariner) of their sailing vessel, the Albert. He 
cruised along the coast, treating 900 patients, and 
found conditions which the present visitor is quite 
unable to conceive. Not a hospital on the whole 
coast and not a doctor except one who came a few 
times each summer on the mail steamer, and whose 
efficiency is indicated by the fact that his career 
was ended by his falling down the companionway 
when drunk. Starvation of whole families was 
fairly common. Poverty and disease were un- 
checked. An insidious debt system of slavery to 
the traders prevailed, possible because of almost 
universal ignorance and illiteracy. Dr. Grenfell 
realized that here was a field of endeavor which 
ofifered to occupy fully the lifetime of a strong man. 
It demanded one of unusual energy and courage 
as well. 

I will not detail the history of the Mission. It 
is chiefly of course, the history of Dr. Grenfell's 
twenty-three years of remarkably successful work, 
and is much too modestly and briefly outlined in 
his book "Labrador." In 1893 and 1894 Battle 
Harbor and Indian Harbor hospitals were opened, 



Cfte ILaticaDot QgeDical Q9i00ion 87 

and each summer Dr. Grenfell cruised north, first 
in a little launch with three men. His skill and 
daring as a sailor, and his endurance in standing 
watches after long sieges with patients in the little 
harbors, earned the amazement and admiration of 
the whole coast. Several vessels were worn out 
in this service, disabled or carried away in the ice, 
until the little steamer Strathcona was donated, 
which is now in active use. 

Additional hospitals were built, the staff was in- 
creased and the work grew. Dr. Grenfell saw that 
it was futile to cure diseases like scurvy, consump- 
tion and anemia caused chiefly by ignorance and 
poverty, and then send the patients back to suffer a 
relapse under the same conditions. So he began 
in 1896 at Red Bay the establishment of coopera- 
tive stores to help free the people from the traders 
and to lower prices and introduce cash trading. 
At present there are eight of these stores run and 
owned by and for fishermen. They have made it 
possible for men in practically any part of the coast 
to demand and get from the traders cash for their 
fish and furs, and they have greatly reduced directly 
and by competition the price of supplies, flour, mo- 
lasses, tea, etc. 

Several thousand patients are now treated each 
year at the hospitals and on the Strathcona. Each 
doctor also has a launch in which, when he can 
get away, he travels the neighboring coast during 



88 mm Dt* ©renfell m JLafitaDor 

open water, and a dog-team, with which to reach 
as many Httle settlements as possible in winter. 

Dr. Grenfell's position on the coast is one of great 
authority. The prestige and honors which have 
come to him have been absolutely unsought and 
are simply a recognition of the work which he has 
calmly done. His plans have been gigantic, though 
each unit has been begun in a modest way. Sev- 
eral of the projects have failed in part or tem- 
porarily, and Dr. Grenfell, like all born fighters, 
has unhesitatingly made enemies ; but the balance to 
his credit, of success and friends, is very large. 

The southernmost station, except St. Johns, is 
Pilley's Island, on the east coast of Newfoundland. 
For some time the people of this district urged Dr. 
Grenfell to open a hospital here to care for several 
hundred miles of coast that were without medical 
aid. Although for the most part poor fishermen 
they agreed to provide for the maintenance if Dr. 
Grenfell would supply a doctor. As the funds of 
the Mission were already heavily burdened it seemed 
wisest not to undertake any fresh responsibilities, 
but a separate fund was raised in Boston for the 
equipment, and Dr. Webster and another doctor and 
nurse opened a hospital. By means of strict econ- 
omy, contributions and the collection of fees from 
those able to pay, this hospital has become largely 
self-supporting, and is now doing splendid work. 

On the northeast coast of Newfoundland, for- 




w 

o 
o 

l-H 

m 

O 

m 

Pi 
W 
H 

W 

O 

:^ 

I— I 

Q 



(14 



Cfie LaliraDot Q^eDical 9@i00iDn 89 

merly called ''Starvation Coast," because of the pov- 
erty and dire calamity which at one time prevailed, 
but now called the "French Shore," because of its 
late occupation by the French, is the Mission Sta- 
tion at St. Anthony, the headquarters of the Mis- 
sion. Before Dr. Grenfell came to this harbor it 
was a struggling little aggregation of ten or fifteen 
families. Round the station there has now grown 
up a prosperous population of several hundred. 
Cod-fishing is the principal industry, with seal- 
catching in winter. 

The Mission settlement is quite extensive. The 
hospital has been recently enlarged to accommo- 
date about thirty patients and in equipment and 
efficiency rivals the best of civilized establishments. 
An enlarged orphanage provides a home for twenty- 
five children, in charge of Miss Storr and an assist- 
ant. 

Then there is the industrial house. Its ground 
floor contains a carpenter and machine shop where 
all sorts of construction and repairing are done. A 
small pottery-kiln adjoins, and a machine shop, and 
beyond a power saw is installed to cut up the enor- 
mous wood supply needed for the winter. Above is 
a loom-room where spinning, weaving and kindred 
arts are taught. They have to be carried on chiefly 
in the winter because in summer all the girls are 
needed to help in the curing of fish or in cooking for 
the skipper and his crew. 



90 mUb Dr* ©renfell in JLafiraDot 

The industrial house is constantly busy and in 
its shops are frequently seen the venerable Mr. 
Ashe, his son, Ted McNeil, and the alert Wilson 
Jacque. The last three men have had technical 
training at Pratt Institute, New York, where they 
made excellent records in spite of very slight ele- 
mentary schooling. They now stand ready to help 
Dr. Grenfell on the launches, in building and on 
the winter travels. They are all Labrador liveyeres 
and are pretty good representatives of the physical 
and mental superiority of these people. 

Marvelous evidences of civilization have been 
made by sheer force to spring up in this northern 
wilderness. Where formerly two boys spent their 
days hauling water in summer and snow was melted 
on the kitchen stove in winter, there now is a reser- 
voir on the hill behind the Mission buildings, which 
connects with a complete water-supply and plumb- 
ing system. The source is a deep spring which does 
not freeze. 

A cellar has been dug under the hospital and 
a furnace installed. It is hard to realize what this 
means on the coast. The ground in most places is 
but a thin layer over bed-rock. In digging for 
foundations at Battle Harbor, for instance, solid 
rock was sometimes encountered two feet down. 
Further, the ground never thaws more than five to 
seven feet beneath the surface. Below that depth 
the soil is frozen solid in the middle of summer. 



Cfte iLaliraDor 99eDicaI 99i00ion 91 

In spite of endless difficulties, however, the task has 
been accomplished by Mr. Halsey, the ''saint in 
overalls," and others, with squads of American col- 
lege men as laborers. 

The advantages of furnace heating can only be 
appreciated by those who have lived on the coast in 
winter. Practically all houses are heated by small 
wood-stoves, the kitchen stove and perhaps one 
other downstairs and their stove pipes for the rooms 
on the second floor. In my own experience the wood 
was always very green and coated with an inch of 
solid ice, so that it was necessary to stand a barri- 
cade of pieces around and upon the stove to melt. 
Before they were dry they had to be put in, some- 
times even soaking wet. We managed, however, 
to maintain an average temperature of 54 degrees, 
to which we became sufficiently accustomed to be 
perfectly comfortable. 

At night all the fires went out, and as we insisted 
on fresh air the snow not infrequently blew in upon 
our beds. Those who happened to be on the lee 
side of the house on such occasions got up and 
shoveled out the others. We once found Dr. Gren- 
fell reposing calmly beneath a foot of snow, while 
snow clung to the walls like a drapery, and sub- 
merged his bureau in a huge drift. 

The installation of running water at the hospital 
makes possible a real bath-tub, another formerly un- 
heard-of thing on the coast. Formerly the members 



92 mitb Dt* ©renfell in LafiraDot 

of the staff drew lots for the use of a tin object 
resembHng a cross between a wash-tub and a rock- 
ing-chair. With all their advantages I personally 
resent the other encroachments of civilization on the 
coast, but it is only at St. Anthony that they are 
much manifest; the remaining stations are primitive 
in comparison. 

As a final wonder an electric lighting plant has 
been put in, which serves the Mission buildings and 
the paths and dock. It is run by a kerosene motor, 
fuel for which is much cheaper and easier to ob- 
tain than gasoline. It makes possible the most 
modern electric treatment and X-ray work. The 
reputation of this hospital and the wonderful surgi- 
cal work of Dr. Grenfell and his right-hand man. 
Dr. John Mason Little, bring patients even from the 
south and St. Johns. 

Among the further buildings is the Guest House, 
which houses chiefly the volunteer workers. It is 
remarkable in the architecture of the coast for its 
glass-enclosed porch, within which a pleasant heat 
is afforded by the sun even in the extreme cold of 
March. The success of this experiment, in spite of 
the blowing in of one or two windows during bliz- 
zards (I remember freezing my hand slightly when 
Dr. Grenfell and I tried to put one back to keep 
out the snow during a three-day storm), has led 
to the adoption of the plan in the addition to the 
hospital. 



Cfte LafitaUot QgeDical 09i00ion 93 

Across the harbor and out toward its mouth are 
the wharf, store houses, and Httle building of the 
St. Anthony Cooperative Store. This, one of the 
newest Hnks in the chain, experienced hard times 
because it undertook to advance suppHes, in deserv- 
ing cases, on credit. It has learned the old lesson 
for itself and is now well on its feet and doing a 
large business. 

Visitors to St. Anthony who are eager to see the 
little places can go by land or small boat to Braha. 
The distance is about four miles of the worst walk- 
ing, with a very indistinct path leading through 
''tuckermoor" (a low thick growth of stunted ever- 
green trees), around little lakes and over mossy 
bogs. Here is a cooperative store which flourishes 
like most of the series under a fisherman manager. 

The cooperative stores are run separately from 
the International Medical Mission. When one is es- 
tablished, the natives of the community put in as 
much money as possible and Dr. Grenfell person- 
ally makes up the remaining necessary capital. 
When the store is on its feet and is paying, he with- 
draws his capital, refusing to accept any part of 
the interest and dividends earned upon it, turning 
this money back into the store. Each store is thus 
locally owned and independent of Dr. Grenfell 
financially, and has been no risk to the funds of the 
Mission. 

A little further north from St. Anthony is Cape 



94 lOitf) Dr* &tm(tU in LafiraDor 

Bauld, which marks the northern Hmit of New- 
foundland, and borders on the Strait of Belle Isle. 
Across this strait is the Mission Station of Battle 
Harbor, situated on a little island about four miles 
from the mainland. The harbor itself is a poor one, 
formed by the surrounding islands and part of the 
mainland. That which seems to be the harbor is 
a narrow "tickle" or passage between Battle Island 
and Great Caribou Island. The settlement of Bat- 
tle Harbor is small, on little Battle Island which 
is a mile long. About ten families live here per- 
manently, but during the summer the population 
is considerably increased by Newfoundland fisher- 
men and visitors. The Mission buildings are 
grouped together toward the middle of the island 
near the shore and consist of a hospital and a few 
storehouses. The hospital has been twice enlarged, 
owing to the great demand for increased accommo- 
dation for patients. 

There is also near by the house occupied by the 
resident physician in charge. Dr. John Grieve. 
Across the harbor are a wharf and storehouse for 
coal and supplies, built against the high clifT of Cari- 
bou Island. The firm of Baine Johnson has a crew 
of about sixty men fishing from this harbor, and 
near the shore is the wide extent of one of the 
largest fish flakes on the coast. The flake is a plat- 
form of poles on which the fish are spread to dry. 

Battle Harbor, lying at the corner where the At- 



Cfie LaliraDor QgeDical ^1001011 95 

lantic Ocean meets the Strait of Belle Isle, is just 
opposite the mouth of Lewis Inlet, a long bay which 
extends for thirty miles back into the interior and 
forms the outlet of a river which goes many miles 
further back. The important position of this place 
makes it seem very possible that at some future time 
it may become a large town. This might easily 
happen if another industry than fishing were to 
be established. At present there is in the winter 
only the very minor occupation of furring, which 
can support only a limited number of people. 
Along the shores of the inlet, after one gets twenty 
miles back from the coast, the country is heavily 
wooded and could easily support a lumber mill and 
possibly a shipyard. The establishment of these 
or similar industries would draw to Battle Harbor 
a fairly large population, which in turn would make 
possible the organization of schools and the other 
adjuncts of an enlightened village. This dream is 
perhaps of the very far future, but it is not an im- 
practical idea. One of the serious drawbacks to 
improvement in the life of the people is the fact 
that they are so scattered and isolated. On the 
other hand, however, for the encouragement of 
self-sufficing qualities the hunting life is undoubt- 
edly much to be preferred. 

About eight miles west of Battle Harbor is Fox 
Harbor, on the mainland, a little cove harboring 
three or four families, some of which have con- 



96 mitb Dr* ©renfell in lafiraoot 

siderable Eskimo blood. This is in fact the most 
southern trace of a race which formerly extended 
as far south as Maine. It forms the outermost 
group of those who live in winter by trapping. The 
trappers here, as in most parts of the coast, hold 
title to the land by right of succession and use. One 
man regards himself as owner of, and covers every 
few days, an extent of sixty miles. 

The work of the Medical Mission here is like 
that in "other parts of the coast. The doctor in 
charge is assisted usually by a volunteer physician 
and one or two advanced medical students, as well 
as one or two nurses. The number of cases treated 
during the summer is exceedingly large. Most 
of these come from various parts of the coast by 
the mail steamers, and it is not unusual for ten 
serious operations to be performed during one day. 
This, of course, entails a very severe strain on the 
small staff and taxes its resources to the utmost. 
Between times the doctor travels north and west for 
fifty miles each way in a thirty-five foot launch, with 
sail and a kerosene engine. The crew of the launch 
is usually composed of one or two natives and three 
or four American college students who have volun- 
teered their services for the summer. 

The hospital contains a large Assembly Room, 
in which occasional entertainments are given and 
religious services held by the doctor in charge on 



Cfte LalJtaDor 0@eDical 95i00ion 97 

Sunday afternoons. There is a little Episcopal 
Church in the village as well. 

The winter work is even more interesting than 
the summer. Dr. Grieve is the Mission's chief 
traveler. His longest trip is more than a thousand 
miles and takes him north along the Labrador coast 
to Nain or Okkak. He also travels west, along the 
shore ice and across the frozen bays for a considera- 
ble distance. In order to get in both trips he has 
to make the western trip extremely early and con- 
stantly runs the danger of encountering soft or 
broken up ice. In spite of having many times 
broken through he has always managed to get out 
of the difficulty. The western trip, too, serves to 
season him and his dogs for the harder trip to the 
north. He travels with two teams and one or two 
drivers. His dogs are famous on the coast as one 
of the finest, most carefully bred packs. They re- 
ceive the best of care and are fed from depots of 
whale or seal meat and fish which are deposited 
during the summer by Dr. Grenfell on his way along 
the coast in the Strathcona. 

During five or six years Dr. Grieve has con- 
stantly improved his methods of travel, his sleds, 
and his harnessing of the dogs and has learned more 
and more in regard to the proper equipment of 
clothing, so that his traveling is now done with 
the greatest possible efficiency. Even so, however, 
it requires a very great deal of skill and endurance 



98 mUh Dt* (©renfell m JLafiraDot 

and usually leaves him thoroughly fatigued at the 
end of the season. There is usually no one in charge 
of the hospital during his absence, except the nurse 
and Mrs. Grieve, who is also a capable nurse. 

On the whole. Battle Harbor is one of the most 
interesting spots of the coast. The chief difficulty 
is that visitors get usually a very superficial glance 
at the most civilized portions of the little commu- 
nity and fail to see the real life of the people which 
is just around the corner. For this reason those 
who have a day or two at Battle Harbor between 
mail steamers will find it well worth their while to 
visit some of the little nearby communities. One 
of these is Trap Cove, about two miles from Battle 
on Caribou Island and can be reached by crossing 
over in a boat and going by foot over the hill at the 
northern end of the island; one then descends a 
steep path into a little settlement full of dogs and 
pups. 

It is at Battle Harbor that one is usually first 
deeply impressed by the Eskimo dogs. One is apt 
to be distinctly cautious about venturing near them. 
As soon as possible one ought to master the very 
simple rule of dealing with them, which is to treat 
them with utter indifference and lack of respect. It 
may sound a little harsh to a lover of dogs but it 
seems to be the only way. One never gets out of an 
Eskimo dog's way. If he is lying in the path one 
yells at him, gives him a kick, or pretends to pick up 



C6e iLatitaDot QgeDical 9@i00ion 99 

a stone as though to throw it. The dogs need not 
be in the least feared, because except in very unusual 
instances they are thoroughly afraid of men. Dur- 
ing the summer, too, they are constantly well-fed, 
because of the large quantity of fish cuttings which 
they pick up around the splitting stages. They also 
fish for themselves in shallow water ; and their own- 
ers find it unnecessary to feed them at all during this 
season. 

About the next call of the mail steamer is made 
at Square Islands. There is no Medical Mission 
station, but a teacher and a doctor are sometimes 
located there. On the way along the coast one 
passes an interesting natural phenomenon called 
"Hole-in-the-wall." It is a large opening through 
a thin wall of rock which runs parallel to the shore 
a short distance off it. With a heavy sea the water 
rushes in behind and out through the hole, which 
is well above the ordinary water-level, as though 
it were a tunneling river. 

About three families at Square Islands are live- 
yeres, the rest are Newfoundlanders, who come in 
other people's boats and settle to fish for the sum- 
mer. The place was the first one which I saw that 
had no dogs. Owing to this lack a degree of civ- 
ilization prevails which is astounding to the Labra- 
dor eye. Chickens roam about, together with six 
or eight goats. There are several small gardens, 
fenced in on account of the goats. 



100 mitl^ K>t, &unttll in HatimDot 

One of these was shown to me with pride by a 
nice old Hveyere woman, who had carefully tended 
it for years. It was about five feet square, with 
little paths the width of one's foot (quite a width 
when one wears sea-boots), and was flourishing for 
Labrador, for it had a single poppy about a foot 
high, and also contained several bushy strawberry 
plants which had put forth some beautiful foliage 
but had forgotten all about the berries. Two tiny 
leaves gave promise of a rose-bush some time ; while 
the crowning glory was an apple tree, five years 
old, and five inches high. 

There is a little store, kept by the most prominent 
Hveyere, in which he sells a few things like knives 
and hard-tack, and buys from the people bake-ap- 
ples that they pick and furs that they trap, to sell 
them again to the schooner that brings his goods 
and the Newfoundlanders from the south. He of- 
fered to sell me a lynx skin, but I declined with 
thanks, because he admitted that the animal had 
not been killed in winter, and the fur was apt to 
part from the skin and cleave to the clothing. 

We went into one house, during the doctor's 
rounds, where the family was just finishing a din- 
ner of hard-tack soaked in water and fried in fat, 
and washed down with tea sweetened with molasses. 

Square Islands is a fairly representative summer 
Labrador community, but it shows much New- 
foundland influence because of the majority of its 



Cfie LatitaDot Q^eDical 9^i$0ion loi 

population. On the other hand it usually has 
few Newfoundland fishing schooners lying in the 
harbor. 

At several similar places Dr. Grenfell has work- 
ers stationed when possible. For instance, at Spot- 
ted Islands, further north, where the people are 
largely liveyeres, he has had for two years a young 
doctor who, living in one of the houses, has treated 
patients, taught school, and been of help to the peo- 
ple generally. 

At one place a doctor and nurse spent the winter 
absolutely away from any hospital or other evidence 
of civilization. They brought most unaccustomed 
help to the little community, and incidentally had 
an interesting winter, with long, exciting, if some- 
times arduous, trips by dog-team. 

The next station of the Labrador Medical Mis- 
sion is Indian Harbor, at the mouth of Hamilton 
Inlet. It consists of a small hospital and a large 
general hall, not infrequently pressed into tempo- 
rary ward or dormitory service. The permanent 
population of this region is small, so the hospital 
is usually abandoned for the winter. It serves the 
fishermen injured or taken sick on schooners, and 
also liveyeres brought to it from distant points by 
boat, or sent thither by Dr. Grenfell when longer 
treatment is needed than his hurried visits in the 
Strathcona will allow. 

Much farther north, at Paul's Island, is a co- 



102 mitl) Dn iSrcnfcIl in ILabraDoi: 

operative store, established several years ago, and 
flourishing to the great benefit of the liveyeres 
there; true Labrador people. Far to the south, west 
of Battle Harbor, is the fourth regular hospital sta- 
tion, at an isolated place called Harrington. It is 
on the southern coast, in Canadian Labrador. In 
spite of the latitude the conditions here are as hard 
as any. The population is ditTerent because of a 
large French Canadian element, but it is supported 
by fishing and sealing in much the same way as the 
rest of the coast. 

For the last few years seals have been so scarce 
that the people have suffered real hardship from 
lack of proper moccasins, no other boots being at all 
suited to the conditions. Dr. and Mrs. Hare and a 
nurse, with an occasional medical student and assist- 
ant nurse, do most self-sacrificing work. Single- 
handed often the surgeon runs the hospital, and 
travels in a small launch in summer, and with dogs 
in winter. The sea-traveling is hard, for the coast 
is dangerous and foggy ; and the dog-travel in spite 
of a splendid team, affords great risks near the first 
and last of winter because of the many deep bays 
which have to be crossed, no matter how rough and 
imsafe the ice. 

The latest and crowning achievement of Dr. Gren- 
fell is in a much different line. St. Johns. New- 
foundland, is the market and conmiercial center of 
the coast, to which the fishermen and sealers liaye to 



Cfte iLaliniDoc CigeDical Q9i00ioa 103 

resort in great numbers to settle up for their catch. 
It is a very small city and contained no adequate 
place to which the men could go when ashore except 
saloons, of which it has over fifty. Dr. Grenfell 
planned and raised the money for the building of the 
King George the Fifth Seamen's Institute, which is 
recognized as a model institution and has been vis- 
ited by a commission from England who wish to 
duplicate it in their ports. 

The seafaring men have here baths, comfortable 
bedrooms and lounging rooms, laundries where 
they can do their own washing, a huge hall for mo- 
tion pictures and other entertainments, billiards, 
pool, soda, bowling, a big swimming pool, a good 
restaurant, an officers' room — all at moderate 
charges — and a complete separate floor with a 
matron for the girls employed on vessels, and the 
main offices of the International Medical Mission. 

Every cent of building cost has been paid off, and, 
although the operation of the Institute cost during 
the first year $16,000, it maintains itself, paying all 
this out of current income. Best of all is the fine 
spirit of management and patrons alike. 

These are some of the specific points ministered 
to by Dr. Grenfell; but a feature of his work is its 
informality and lack of red-tape, so that even as this 
is written plans are probably being laid to reach 
and help new ports. To him and the type of en- 
ergetic individuals who work with him, every cove 



I04 mUb Dr* &unttll in Laftratiat 

on the coast is full of interest; but the combined 
resources admit the establishment of stations in only 
a few places. Indeed, Dr. Grenfell allows no 
amount of zeal to carry him beyond the practical 
limit; and he prefers to limit his efforts somewhat in 
area in order to work more efficiently. 

The wider field of Dr. Grenfell's work is the 
100,000 square miles or more of Labrador. His 
name and he himself are known from one end to 
the other, and his relation with his people is unique 
in any community. He has enemies, but cautious 
inquiry will generally show them to be persons or 
adherents of persons who have had the bad judg- 
ment to sell liquor, cheat the poor, or otherwise 
so act as to feel his power in an unpleasant way. 
Public opinion is against them and with Dr. Gren- 
fell, less because of what he has done for the peo- 
ple than because men know him as a man. 



Scale of Miles 




200 



Spotted islands 



Islaud 



SfeneHar^o'^ 



MeMe Isle 



50 



_ of T^ /-Mio*'^ i 



Magdalen Is^ \S^''''^^^^^~-^ ^<S^T ^ SSVo^'^® 



-.^ 



/ ^^ ^, >^« 

^ 

V O Scale of :»Iile8 



^ ^2 l^'.'iev arf; 7,0 68 



50 100 200 

gg 56 B.D.SEflV0SS,54 N.Y. 



Facing page 105 



CHAPTER VII 

HOW TO REACH LABRADOR 

It is possible to reach Labrador from Boston in 
a week. Leaving Boston by the Plant Line one 
may sail to Halifax, or by the Dominion Steamship 
Company to Yarmouth, and from either of these 
places go by rail to Sydney, Cape Breton Island. 
Here one takes the steamer of the Reid Newfound- 
land Company to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, 
where one connects with the Reid Newfoundland 
Railway. It is possible to cross the country east- 
ward by the railroad to the capital, St. Johns, and 
the Labrador-bound traveler has the choice of doing 
so and going thence to Labrador in a way described 
later. If he wishes the quickest route, he takes from 
Port aux Basques another branch of the railroad 
northward to Bay of Islands, Newfoundland. 
There he may take a small mail steamer of the Reid 
Newfoundland Company, which calls at several 
more ports of the west coast of Newfoundland and 
then crosses the Strait of Belle Isle to Forteau, 
Labrador; thence it skirts the south Labrador coast 
until it reaches Battle Harbor, the metropolis of 

105 



io6 mUb Dt* ©tenfell in Lafiraaor 

Labrador proper, and in some years goes south on 
the east coast of Newfoundland to St. Anthony, 
Two other boats go as far north as Battle, one of 
the Reid Newfoundland Company, which makes 
about six trips from July to October, and twice gets 
as far north as Nain. So much depends on the ice, 
however, that one may start expecting to reach Nain 
and have to turn back some lOO miles further south. 
No passenger steamers go north of Nain; but the 
Moravian missionaries have a ship which comes 
from England once a year or so, striking the coast 
usually near Rigolet, and then goes to the far north 
Moravian stations; and the Hudson Bay Company 
sends up from St. Johns to Hudson Bay each year 
some ships, which call in at Battle. These boats 
north of Nain, however, are very irregular and 
take passengers only by special arrangement. 

The third mail steamer which goes as far north 
as Battle Harbor is run by Bowring Brothers. It 
starts at St. Johns, Newfoundland, and runs up the 
east coast of Newfoundland to Battle Harbor, 
Labrador, and back. This third line makes it pos- 
sible to go from New York to Labrador with one 
change. Bowring Brothers' Red Cross Line pro- 
vides first-class accommodations from New York 
to St. Johns, where one may connect with the line 
for Battle Harbor, or the Reid-Newfoundland boat 
going further north on the Labrador coast. For 
those who like a sea voyage, and wish to go from 



^oto to KeacJ) Laftraflor 107 

New York with the greatest comfort, this is the best 
route. Or, as suggested above, one may reach Port 
aux Basques and then cross Newfoundland by rail- 
road to St. Johns and there connect with either 
northern boat. 

Any person, no matter what his tastes may be, 
can get real pleasure from a trip to Labrador. At 
the very worst, if for instance the weather should 
prove bad, or his tastes are particularly jaded, he 
will enjoy Labrador because it will be absolutely 
new to him. Even if he has traveled in Newfound- 
land, he will have seen nothing like it. 

One thing only is necessary — he must take the 
trip in the right spirit, remembering that the ordi- 
nary first-class accommodations to which American 
travelers are accustomed are to be had only as far 
as Port aux Basques or St. Johns. Further north 
the accommodation is decidedly second-class. 

A slight exception must be made for the Reid 
Newfoundland Railway Company, which although 
narrow-gauge, has nevertheless a good dining serv- 
ice and Pullmans. 

The northern boats have few staterooms and 
it is impossible to engage securely a whole one. It 
must be remembered that these lines are not pri- 
marily for tourists. They run a few months each 
year only, for the benefit of the coast inhabitants, 
bringing them mail and supplies. During the height 
of the season they are often crowded so that com- 



io8 mith Di% (Srenfell in LatiraDor 

mon humanity overcomes selfish desires and each 
stateroom holds four people. 

Not long ago a few American millionaires trav- 
eling on the coast made arrangements w^ith the 
owner and head of one of the lines to have a state- 
room apiece. The boat was extremely crowded and 
the result was that all the other tourists, hunters 
and fishermen were herded together in the so-called 
second-class, which is equivalent to the ordinary 
steerage, while the few rich Americans contentedly 
occupied the entire first cabin. The affair caused 
so much fury on the coast that it was taken to the 
Newfoundland Parliament, and the owner, who is 
a member, found himself in extremely hot water. 

Pioneer necessity on the Labrador tends to do 
away with class distinction and spread a feeling 
of genuine democracy which is very pleasing to an 
American, however accustomed to obeisance he may 
happen to be. One should not suppose, however, 
that this feeling in the Labrador people presents 
itself in impudence or that over-readiness to demon- 
strate equality to all comers that is so offensive. 
The people have a quiet modesty and deference 
which is the most real sort of courtesy. 

These northern boats are full of interest. One 
of them often employed to help out in the service 
but not regularly used, is upwards of fifty years 
old and as strong as on the day she was built. She 
was formerly an old sailing British man-of-war. 



l^otu to Keacf) LabraDot 109 

Several hard fights in African waters left her eter- 
nal oak beams absolutely untouched, and with oc- 
casional resheathing, topping and inside fitting she 
has done many years of helpful service on the coast. 

Others of the northern vessels are former sail- 
ing ships admirably adapted to the service by the 
thick sheathing with which they combat the ice. 
One or two of them are still used each spring for 
the chase after seals among the ice floes. Only 
four years ago the old Virginia Lake, which had 
reached Nain twice the previous summer, was at 
last crushed in and destroyed in March by the in- 
calculable strength of the spring ice-pack. In these 
staunch vessels the summer passengers, however, 
may feel absolutely safe, for although there is plenty 
of ice it is loosely scattered, and during a great 
many years none of these vessels has ever suffered 
serious accident. 

The Labrador coast is in fact by no means as 
unsafe for navigation as it is sometimes regarded. 
It is poorly charted indeed, but this is a disadvan- 
tage only to strangers, and not to the old skippers 
of these vessels, who know the coast like a book. 
Their ability to travel unerringly in the fog and 
dark is almost uncanny. There is also a good, safe 
harbor nearly every ten miles, to use in case of 
emergency. The northern boats run along ''inside" 
a sheltering fringe of islands, and are usually south 



no MJitf) Dr» ©renfell in LalitaDor 

before the dreaded ''equinoctial gales" break loose 
ver}^ late in the season. 

The latter are indeed severe. From forty to 
sixty fishing vessels are apt to be wrecked every 
year. During these times Dr. Grenfell's staunch 
little steamer Strathcona labors without thought 
of danger. Dr. Grenfell has the reputation of trav- 
eling in weather which scares the most hardened 
skippers. He usually succeeds in pulling half a 
dozen unfortunate fore-and-afters off the rocks 
upon which they have been driven, and in rescuing 
several crews. 

Persons wishing to stop over will find Battle 
Harbor, Labrador, and St. Anthony, northern 
Newfoundland, the most convenient places. St. 
Johns, Newfoundland, is the only point on the coast 
boasting real hotels, and these are decidedly second- 
class. Of chief interest is the new Fisherman's In- 
stitute which Dr. Grenfell has established there. 

At St. Anthony the International Medical Mission 
has limited accommodations, the best of any of 
the stations. These should, however, be arranged 
for in advance by writing or telegraphing the Ma- 
tron of the Guest House, St. Anthony, Newfound- 
land. 

At the other stations the Mission is always glad 
to extend hospitality when it can, but, during the 
summer especially, the absolute need on behalf of 
the patients thronging to the hospitals usually 



J^oto to Reacf) HabtaDor m 

makes this impossible. Not infrequently the very 
benches in the small waiting-room have to be made 
up as beds for sufferers. 

At Battle Harbor Mr. Crouchcr, summer factor 
for the Baine Johnson Company, traders and fish 
merchants, and his assistant, Mr. Lewis, often are 
kind enough to take into their houses the few trav- 
elers that they can accommodate. 



CHAPTER VIII 

AN AMERICAN IN LABRADOR 

An ever increasing number of Americans, Cana- 
dians and English are giving their services for per- 
iods of from three months to several years in order 
to help Dr. Grenfell solve the social and medical 
problems of the coast. Most valuable is the work 
of medical and surgical specialists and of nurses, 
next comes that of third-year medical students, ac- 
countants, electricians and teachers. Still others 
without technical or professional training do sec- 
retarial and administrative work and heavy manual 
labor. 

The life of these people is in its way as inter- 
esting as that of the liveyeres whom they try to 
serve. To depict it I quote a few passages from 
my diary as volunteer aide for over a year in the 
Labrador Medical Mission, serving in many capaci- 
ties. 

August 13th — We took a trip in the kerosene 
launch to Fox Harbor after supper, and lost our 
bearings toward the end of the journey on account 
of fog. We ran along, trying to find the harbor, 

112 



an american in LaftraDot 113 

until we heard breakers on our port bow. We 
dropped both anchors just in time to head her off, 
and turned in for the night. There were four 
bunks in the combined cabin and engine-room, and 
six hands aboard, — the hospital physician. Dr. 
Grieve, an energetic Scotchman, two of the Mis- 
sion's seamen and three Americans. We held watch 
in turn, two on deck at a time, which made the 
accommodations sufficient. We sounded frequently 
with the lead-line to make sure that the anchors 
were not dragging and letting us drift toward the 
rocks. W^hen it became light we saw the reef near 
us, and we were glad that we had not gone ashore 
in the dark and fog to find the harbor, for the dory 
would have been carried in and dashed to pieces 
before we could have gotten down the shore be- 
yond the reef. We could see the harbor compara- 
tively near, so we steamed in and blew a blast on 
the horn. A young man came out of one of the 
huts and rowed out in a punt to carry the doctor 
and me ashore. 

We climbed up the rails of the only sort of wharf 
much found on the coast, a fish-stage, and went to 
a small hut covered with peat sod. A middle-aged 
Eskimo in the usual fishing costume, knee-boots 
with iron heel-plates, overalls, jersey, pipe and tam- 
o'-shanter, met us at the door and took us into the 
hut, which was made of hand-hewn boards scrubbed 
clean. Here were his fat wife, one well boy and 



114 iliUith i[>n vf>rrnfrn in lialinitior 

Olio w iih llio nuiiups. All could speak iMiglish, :\nd 
as the iiiolhor luul fc^lUnvod caro fully tlio verbal 
iustiiKiions which the doctor luul givcu her. the 
child was prouoiHiced well enough to put down his 
betl and walk. 

August 30th — We were opening some sacks of 
clothing in the morning and paying otf some men 
to whom work had been given to help them oui oi 
dire need. Their tastes were surprising. Some oi 
the knitted woolen things the women "take down" 
and reknit to suit thenisclves, as wool is so hard 
to get. A stranger strolled in and happened to 
see a green fancy vest which a doubtless well-niean- 
ing but scant ilv informed friend in civilization had 
sent. Lie saw that I was busy so he went away, but 
later he came back and stood admiring the waist- 
coat for all he was worth. 

**i wonder now what would be de price o' dat. I 
s'pose 'tis way up altogedder. Now dat ves' sort 
o' strikes my fancy. I 'low 'tis slack enough in d* 
wais'. Yes, yes, I suppose I'd be w^illin' to give 
half a quintal or a quintal o' fish for im." I ex- 
plained that clothing was given only for w^ork. His 
oiYering a quintal of cod-tish for a thing of no use 
to him show's rather picturesque ignorance of value, 
for a quintal is w^orth about $4.00, which is a good 
deal to a man who gets perhaps a hundred or less, 
on which to support a large family for a year. 

September ^tli — We started about five in the 




AN ESKIMO FAMILY AT HOME 

Facing page Ii4 



^11 ^mcncan in ILabniDot: 115 

nutiniii^^ lo go by sea lo Si. Anllioiiy, or "Sanan- 
tony." VVhcii wc were about half way there fog 
settled about us and we bad of course to steer by 
eoinpass. We ran into lilaek Jack ( !ove, in wbieh 
eleven schooners were wrecked last year, landed a 
passenger, and cleared (Uit. The cove is narrow 
and nnprotecled from certain winds. It was very 
thick and dusky vvlieu we reached St. Linair or 
J-conard l»ay and, as no one on board knew this part 
of the coast, wc put in for the night. There was 
formerly a iMench settlement here, and I found a 
man who could speak very good h'rench indeed. 

His dogs were of the mixed variety, and were all 
lied with long ropes. Although they weren't hus- 
kies, he told me of an occasion when he went to 
feed them and they jmn])e(l on him and knocked 
him down, biting him seriously before his son could 
drive them olT. lie was fortunately able to get 
to his feet again, or he would probably have been 
torn to pieces. 

Wc reached our destination and got four car- 
])cntcrs to help tinish the addition of the hospital, 
and started back. We had heard stories of drink 
running rife at Carpoon, and the doctor intended to 
check it in the bud. Wc ran into the harbor and 
found that a gang of French Canadians, foreign- 
ers of course to the coinitry, had gone on a spree 
with the only licjuor they could get, — vSomc wood- 
alcohol. They took it at first diluted with sugar 



ii6 mitb tDn fi>rcnfcll in iliiliniOor 

and water, but as recklessness increased they forgot 
the dehcacies and were soon drinking it "neat." 
Two had just died from the elTects of the poison 
and one lay sick and blind for life. Several more 
were blinded for a time but recovered. 

No efforts were needed on our part to check the 
debauch. It was indeed pitiable, but no better ob- 
ject lesson could have been desired. The news that 
these men had died from drinking spread rapidly 
all along the coast. 

After doing all we could we went straight on 
in a hard blow. Our motor got a hot-box and we 
had to sail. Immediately the wind died to a calm 
which lasted for some time before a breeze started 
up. Two hours later we entered the harbor and 
found that the Stratlicona had arrived laden with 
northern products, including an addition to the fox- 
farm, some Husky pups, an Indian "cracky," or 
small dog. with yellow eyes, and some sealskin 
boots for the staff. 

We wetit to work unloading coal from Dr. Gren- 
f ell's schooner, which had also just arrived and 
w-as alongside the storehouse in very deep water. 
It took three days to unload the one hundred and 
twenty tons by hand, using a block and winch. 
The days were ten-hour days, broken only by din- 
ner and "mug-up'' at eleven and four. This was 
an application of scientific management, for we 
found that regular interruptions did away with the 



an American in ILiibraDoc 117 

necessity for drinks of water at all hours. "Mug- 
up" is a light meal consisting chielly of tea, with 
occasional hard-tack, dried caplin, and biscuits. 

September 14th — On a bright night we set out 
over the still sea for Antill's Cove, towing in a 
scow some of our precious "coals'' for our friends 
oi the whale factory. We were about a mile from 
their cove when we made out a boat in the dark- 
ness, which we soon saw was full of men, rowing 
like mad. They were so anxious to get along that 
they did not see our side-lights until we were quite 
near, when they sang out that they had an injurcil 
man aboard. We stopped, and the patient was care- 
fully transferred. 

The men at the whale factory had been cutting 
the blubber from two whales brought in by the 
steamer, and were w'orking overtime in the dark, 
so that the oil wouldn't spoil by lying over Sunday, 
on which day they never work for any considera- 
tion. They were using extremely sharp knives, 
with handles three or four feet long, and one of the 
men had accidentally slashed another. The skip- 
per fortimately knew about a tourniquet, and they 
put on some heavy whale-oil, these measures dimin- 
ishing the bleeding. They would have brought the 
man to hospital in the whale steamer, but she 
had just blown out her boilers. It was some dis- 
tance to row, but they had quickly jumped into a 
boat and pulled at killing speed for the hospital. 



ii8 mitl) Dn ©rcnfcll in ILaftraDoc 

Next day we finished blasting away rocks from 
behind the hospital and began to tear down part of 
the old building. Every upright had been chopped 
from a log and every plank was hand-sawn or hewn. 
We had no really skilled carpenters, but we were all 
good at the sledge-hammer and crow-bar, smash- 
ing out the walls, ripping up the floor and pulling 
down the ceiling. The walls of some of the rooms 
were covered with old newspapers and Yoiitlis 
Companions, read, reread, and still doing duty in 
keeping out the cold. 

The men were all more or less sailors and used 
nautical terms in carpentering. We were about to 
rip the oil-cloth from the wall of an upstairs bed- 
room when one of them sang out, ''All ban's aloft 
to furl th' 'ile-skin!" 

''Ahoy, slack away d' main-sheet!" referred to 
the improvised string fastening of a door. 

September i8th — The wind had increased to a 
fierce gale. The schooners in the harbor put out 
extra lines in all directions to prevent being blown 
loose. The sea was driven in great waves against 
all projecting rocks, and several small islands were 
hidden from sight by the continuous wall of water 
blown up aroinid them. The water swept clear 
over several islands. It dashed twenty feet up 
the point on one side of the "souther' tickle." There 
were no white caps: the whole sea was a mass of 
foam with small green spots flecking it. The wind 



an ametican in LabtaDoc 119 

was mainly northeast and came right through the 
tickle with tremendous force, driving along great 
piles of soap-suds foam, churned up on the rocks 
outside. A small boat tugged at an inch rope until 
it broke, when the boat was whisked out through 
the souther' tickle onto the rocks and was smashed 
to pieces. 

The big fish steamer, although held fast by nu- 
merous chains and ropes, broke her forward lines 
and was swinging ponderously around toward the 
other side of the harbor, where she would have 
swept away two schooners and our launch and 
smashed in her bows, — when they got a cable ashore 
and checked her a few yards from the rocks. It 
was exciting, for there was but a small fraction 
of the time ordinarily necessary to get out a line in 
which to prevent great destruction. 

We were thankful she hung on; but we realized 
that her one small cable was not highly dependable 
in this gale, and there was still a chance of her last 
hold being broken, so we decided to move our 
launch out of harm's way, although to do so was 
rather a risky job. The doctor was mustering his 
forces on the wharf, when a boat put across from 
the other side ; a thing which no one else had dared 
to do. It brought four fishermen who had seen 
the danger the launch was in, and volunteered to 
take her out of it, even if they had to tow her with 
their skiff. 



I20 mUb Dt* ©renfell in ILaliraOor 

The doctor thankfully accepted their aid, which 
showed a very good spirit, and the combined crews 
reached the launch after some hard rowing. We 
fired up and raising the two anchors started at full 
speed ahead against the wind. She crept along 
slowly in a half-hearted fashion until she reached 
a narrow place between steep rocks and the steam- 
er's bow. The wind came through this funnel with 
great pressure and held back the launch as easily 
as would the touch of a giant's little finger. For 
some seconds she didn't budge, despite the best ef- 
forts of the engine; and it was almost impossible 
to steer her clear of the rocks. Gradually she 
gained headway and passed the steamer's bow; we 
made her lines fast to the storehouse and put out, 
with the help of our friends in the skiff, an extra 
anchor. 

September 22nd — In the wake of the equinoctial 
gale we had just experienced and which had not 
died out for three days, came the mail boat, and 
I took a short trip north. We landed before dark 
at Spear Harbor, went ashore in the jolly-boat and 
climbed up as usual the slippery bars of a fish-stage, 
passed through the low room, getting a couple of 
bumps on the same old spot, and went up the rocky 
path to the main house, the kitchen of which usually 
serves as a post-ofiice. Benches wainscoted the 
walls, occupied chiefly by fishermen. The women- 
folk sat in corners or stood about the doorway. 



3n 3mencan in ILafttaDot 121 

Two of the crew entered with the httle mail-bag, 
dumped it on the table and began the conversa- 
tion with: 

''Good-night, b'ys. Did 'e feel de breeze strong 
'ere?" 

In another corner I was tackled with the ques- 
tion: 

''Is dey ar' wrack up d' coas', sir?" 

I replied with the precious news, "Few on the 
Labrador, but in Newfoundland Twillingate is 
swept clean, — wharf, stages and all, so the people 
have no place to make their fish. Twenty-seven 
schooners a total wreck; only two hung on in the 
whole harbor. In Bonavista six schooners lost 
and two Norwegians drowned. Three schooners 
lost in American Tickle, one of them blown out 
to sea with all hands." The news was received with 
neither indifference nor surprise, but with calm 
resignation; in fact it was too much a regular fact 
of their life to cause hysterical and useless pity. 

While we were at Hawke's Harbor the whale- 
steamer Cachelot (of late years I believe a financial 
misnomer) came in with a freshly caught fin-back 
whale, number thirty-seven only though the sea- 
son was nearly over. Further on several half-breed 
Eskimo came aboard. They struck me as more en- 
terprising and intelligent than the average white 
fisherman; though the full-blooded Eskimo are 
much less provident than the whites. They were 



122 mit'b Dt* (Srenfell in HatiraDot 

very talkative and very anxious to hear the phono- 
graph in the cabin, which repeated its repertoire of 
five pieces several times. In the crowd were a few 
who were part Indian, fierce-looking, dark and 
silent. 

Wood is so scarce here that we brought some 
common two-inch sticks all the way from St. Johns 
for cemetery rails. At this harbor we met Dr. 
Grenfell's steamer, the Strathcona, and as I had 
been invited to join her I transferred myself 
and dunnage to her ship's boat. Dr. Grenfell and 
his assistant and crew were preparing to run up 
Eskimo Bay to Northwest River. We gathered in 
the little cabin for a reunion at a dinner of goose, 
which was unfortunately tough but none the less 
appreciated just then, because they had eaten noth- 
ing in the fresh meat and poultry line for some 
time. 

We started up the bay and had just dropped 
anchor at Muliak when a boat came alongside con- 
taining a man who wanted a pair of glasses, "So's, 
doctor, I kin see to shoot, doctor. 'Tis a 'ard t'ing, 
sir, fer a man what depen's mos'ly on 'is gun fer 
a livin' when dey is ar' geese an' de likes of dey 
about, an' me wantin' un so bad, an' can't git un, 
fer me oies." 

The only other means of support that this man 
has is the salmon fishery, which is now often small, 
leaving him without supplies enough for the winter. 



9n American m ILalJtaDoi: 123 

In the fall he gets ducks, snipe, yellow-legs, and 
traps foxes, martens and once in a great while a 
silver-fox, which always pulls him temporarily out 
of the mire. 

At Carawalla we found the two or three Es- 
kimo houses deserted. On our return we stayed 
over Sunday at Rigolet, where Dr. Grenfell held 
three services, one aboard and two in the trader's 
dining-room, attended by the family, servants, and 
several half-breeds and Eskimo living near. 
Further on we stopped to take aboard some wood 
cut by poverty stricken men to help out with their 
year's food. It was piled a little way back from 
the land wash, and there was so much that it took 
the whole crew several hours to carry it down and 
take it aboard in the dory, towed by the jolly-boat. 
Dr. Grenfell pitched into this work as usual and 
lugged the largest back loads of fire wood. We 
soon reached Indian Harbor, which we helped to 
shut up for the winter. The Mission buildings here 
would delight the heart of the author of the Sim- 
ple Life. The only sharp reminder of civilization 
in the plain board interior is the small organ in the 
corner with its rough hewn stool. 

At Cartwright I was pleased to see a monument 
in the graveyard to the famous old trader Cart- 
wright, who founded the settlement. Many of the 
inscriptions dated far back, and with their upside- 



124 Witf) Dr» (Srcnfell in LabraDot 

down n's, Charlotte spelled Chariot, etc., were amus- 
ing. One showed forth this touching ditty : 

"Gentle reader, stop and think, 
While I'm in eternity, you're on the brink." 

Next day there was a very heavy sea and the 
Strathcona rolled like a ball. The first thing to 
do was to turn the table and chairs upside-down, 
and lash everything on the deck. The boats on the 
davits at each side dipped into the water, so that 
there was some danger of their being carried away. 
The jib-sheet was torn oft* by the force of the wind, 
and things were upset generally. It was a hard 
task getting into Venison Tickle, for there is scant 
room between the islands. We stayed only a short 
time in spite of the weather, because Dr. Grenfell 
was in a hurry. The secretary amused us by keep- 
ing his oil-skins always at hand, ready to leave at 
short notice. After going through a cross sea which 
gave the ship a patent ball-bearing, interlocking, 
sideways rotary motion, we arrived at Square 
Islands, and attended to a large number of patients. 

October 4th — Back at Battle Harbor, we got to 
work again at the building, which had grown in 
my absence. I learned the gentle art of shingling, 
or how to make the roof leak. At all hours, from 
six in the morning, when the day had just emerged 
from darkness, until six at night, when it had be- 
gun to sink again, I could be seen clinging like a 



$Jn American in LabraDot 125 

limpet to the scaffold, on which all true heroes meet 
their end, or hanging over the edge or around a 
corner. Then I went at painting. 

Hard-driven authors who resort for a theme to 
the delights of angling should try the job of the 
aerial artist. Seated upon his throne, — insecure of 
course like all thrones, — he surveys the vast expanse 
of sea, and the much vaster expanse of roof. The 
sun is shining brightly — on the other side of the 
building. — here in the shade it is sweetly cold ; bitter 
would hardly do, especially as sweet smells are 
wafted from the chimney by a suffocating draught 
of smoke. This is pleasant, for it drowns the odor 
of paint on the artist's overalls. After a hard day 
of wrist exercise, the spot made on the roof is 
usually large enough to be seen with the naked 
eye, but it shrinks considerably during the night, 
necessitating a long search for it before beginning 
work in the morning. 

Having found the blot on the 'scutcheon, the 
artist seats himself comfortably on the steep side 
of the roof and coils up his legs, resting their 
lower ends on the thin edge of a board nailed to 
the slope. He has crawled out here from a window, 
and after carefully painting all round him ends up 
with the window, making it impossible to get back. 

The men delighted in simple jokes, such as, 
''Hand up the bake-apple jam, b'y," referring to 
the red paint. One of them remarked the fact 



126 mitf^ ^u ©renfell in Latitaflar 

that I didn't wear a cap: he was number eighty- 
nine to ask, "Don't 'e mind your head cold, sir, 
widout ar' cap!" With extreme satisfaction one of 
them saw me put on mitts toward the end of a chilly 
day, and exclaimed joyfully, "I sees, if you is able 
t' bear the col' on your 'ead, you likes to wear cuffs 
a scattered time." Another volunteered the state- 
ment that if he hadn't wore a cap like I didn't he 
like as not mightn't a lost his hair like he had : dis- 
playing a crop in which harvest had begun. 

As winter was coming on the sealskins which 
I had collected from hunters were turned over to 
an Eskimo woman to be made up into my cold 
weather clothes. The first step which she took was 
to soften the skins, which were as stiff as cardboard. 
My tailor's husband assisted (although further 
north he would have scorned doing so). I also 
tried my hand at it, but it was a slow, hard job. It 
was amazing to see the ruthless manner in which 
those prize skins were handled, or rather trampled ; 
but it appears that sealskin is exceedingly durable. 

The man first rove a line through the holes in 
the edge of a skin and tied it up in a bunch; then 
he "tukikava" (trampled) it with his sea-boots. I 
told him in great anxiety that he had misunder- 
stood me, — that I wanted the hair left on. He re- 
plied with the racial, "I suppose," meaning "Yes," 
and continued stamping and smashing it into a ball. 
Then he took out the string, and holding a fistful 



an amencan in LaftraDot 127 

of skin in each hand, made a rotary motion as 
though turning a crank. 

The skin has a coating of black vellum on the 
inside, and this was gradually broken up into white 
lines by mauling. The next process consisted in 
man and wife each seizing an end and twisting the 
skin until the latent oil appeared in beads. This 
was wiped off and the skin again ''tukikava," — 
rubbed or ground as above. We spent several 
evenings at this wrist exercise, I trying to hurry 
matters along. Matters are very slow in spite of 
hurrying; I have never seen an Eskimo run or do 
anything speedily except eat. 

The numerous white lines had now become 
merged together and no dark was visible, so that 
the skins were ready to be scraped with a *'kiliu- 
tok," a- native tool somewhat like a sugar-scoop. 
To use this one holds the skin taut over the edge 
of a bench with the knee and one hand, and plows 
right in with the tool. The act is performed with 
all the force one can summon, which by the time 
the tail is reached is very little indeed. The skin 
is left white and pliable, although it never becomes 
as soft as deerskin. The good folk finally realized 
that I wanted the clothes for use that winter instead 
of the following one, and began to work a bit more 
speedily. They really took a hearty interest in 
getting them just right. 

As bought the skins are split and stretched flat, 



128 mUb Dr* ©renfell in LalitaDot 

oval in shape and from two to six feet long, with 
the hair on. In full-grown seals used for clothing, 
the hair is only about half an inch long and not 
thick; in the whelps or *' white-coats" the hair 
grows two inches before it is changed for the new 
short gray coat. The best skin is that of the ranger ; 
it is a beautiful silvery gray on the belly, and has 
very dark spots close together on the back. Next 
to this is the bedlamer, or young harp, with light 
half -moons on its back, and the jar, with light-gray 
circles, also set in dark gray. The largest variety 
is the square-flipper, from ten to fifteen feet long, 
with skin as thick as shoe leather. That of young 
square-flippers and of harps is used for boot-bot- 
toms; while ordinary sealskin, about as thick as 
sheepskin, is used for the legs. 

After several days of hard labor my lady-tailor 
proceeded to cut out the trousers or ''hudulik" en- 
tirely by eye, using a "wulu," a sharp tool much like 
a small meat-chopper. This particular one was of 
ancient Eskimo manufacture, nearly a hundred 
years old, having been handed down through several 
generations. The ivory handle had been polished 
and the blade worn to half its original size by con- 
stant use. 

After cutting out the pieces the good woman pro- 
ceeded to sew them together with whale-sinew 
(which had been drying on the roof), and a square- 
topped needle. This sinew runs along the back of 




The author in the Eskimo sealskin clothes he wore during 
the winter, examining Eskimo carving 

Facing page 128 



3n American in LabraDor 129 

the whale and is as large as a man's wrist; while 
dry it was split up into four or five cords and each 
of these was again split and resplit into strings, 
which were dried for four or five days, and then 
split into threads as needed. It was quite a task to 
"mitsuk" the trousers, but the result was worth 
while. They were mainly of two pieces, a whole 
skin to each leg: in shape they were just like or- 
dinary trousers, but large enough to be worn out- 
side a pair. Around the bottom they have a two- 
inch band of white-haired skin. Around the top 
there is another white band. There is one deep 
pocket, put in as an extraordinary innovation, only 
after much discussion. 

This work of art completed, the "netsik," or shirt, 
was tackled in the same manner. This is the same 
shape as a sweater, but is loose enough to go outside 
coat, sweater and trousers, and has a hood, which 
is part of the back and front pieces, and a peak at 
the back of the top : it frames the face, the chin 
and forehead being partly covered. The bottom and 
sleeves have the same two-inch band of white-haired 
skin. 

Dr. Grenfell was kind enough to give me a silver 
fox-skin to trim it with, and two strips from the 
back with soft, long hair were bound around the 
front edge of the hood, to prevent the cheeks from 
freezing. The seal-skin "cuffs," or mitts, I also had 
trimmed with fox-skin around the wrists. These 



I30 Wlith Dn (Srenfell in LaSraBor 

mitts were thin, and, of course, not warm enough 
by themselves. Their advantage is that they are 
windproof, and when worn over a pair of blanket- 
ing mitts they are ideal. 

I had several pairs of these mittens made, and 
also a lot of blanketing socks to wear, one or two 
pairs at a time, over my long stockings and inside 
my seal-skin boots. These proved in one way better 
than arctic hare socks, because they were absorbent. 
With this outfit I felt fully prepared for winter; 
the only portion of my anatomy which could possi- 
bly freeze being my nose, and, as that article seemed 
at first impossible to cover, I was somewhat per- 
plexed ; however, a brilliant thought struck me, and 
I sent to America for a football nose-guard. It later 
proved utterly impracticable because the rubber be- 
came dangerously cold and froze to my lips. A less 
fool idea was used by one of my colleagues; an 
amusing rabbit- fur shield. Freezing of the vapor 
in the enclosed air made it more of a nuisance, how- 
ever, than occasional frost-bite. 

I notice from my friends' remarks that some of 
them seem to have the impression that a mission can 
exist only among wild, untamed savages. The peo- 
ple of Labrador do not deserve this compliment, for 
they have yet to learn the edibility of the English 
and American persons laboring among them ; even 
the dogs, with their carnivorous tendencies, seem 



an ametican in LatiraDot 131 

to have looked upon them as the amateur does upon 
the mushroom, so far sticking to the local species. 

Many of the Labrador and Newfoundland fisher- 
men have, however, peculiarities as pleasing at times 
and shocking at others, as those of savages. One of 
their idiosyncrasies consists in buying an outfit of 
clothes at the beginning of the fishing season and 
placing them where they belong; then, in order to 
perform no unnecessary labor, and also to conserve 
the bodily heat, they allow their garments to "stop" 
on, night and day and other times, until a shirt wears 
out; then they put another over it to cover up the 
holes. 

As a result of this labor-saving scheme, night- 
clothes are few in the realm. Therefore I was not 
much surprised when one of the men came to me in 
their usual child-like confidence to show me a suit 
of clothes for the winter which he had picked out in 
payment for work. The doctor had merely made 
sure that he was getting the correct value, but had 
not noticed what he had taken, and it was for me 
to discover that his find was a heavy suit of woolen 
pajamas. When I recovered and explained to him 
he was very downcast. 

**Sure dere's vist an' all to un, sir," he remon- 
strated ; *'do dere bees min what 'auls off every- 
thing and weers dey to bid? Slapes in um? Moi 
son! Shifts every night! Moi sweet man! I 
tought dey was a bewtiful suit. An' I'd a wore um ! 



132 Mlitf) Dt* (Srenfell in JLafimHar 

Sich clever tassels! First col' day 'e 'd a saw me 
hout in um! Moi sonn! Ain't dat too bad!" 

Billy, a half-witted old man with a paralyzed arm, 
who splits wood for his keep at the hospital, fell 
down and skinned his nose. As soon as he arose, 
displaying the injured member, there was a general 
chorus of "Billy's wracked. Carried away de jib- 
boom !" 

On Monday afternoon there was a church wed- 
ding ; and, not wishing to miss any available fun, I 
went. Being already more or less familiar with the 
interior decorations, I was in no hurry to enter; 
but waited instead for the bridal party. At three- 
quarters past the appointed hour a boat was des- 
cried coming around the point from Trap Cove; 
the anxious watchers around me gave a sigh of 
relief, for it was overly cold for their best clothes. 
A bunch of "bride-boys" (bridesmaids) rushed 
down to the fishing-stage to do the greetings, 
while the men assisted the toe-pinched male portion 
of the bridal party to haul their sea cab up on the 
rocks, after doing which the man proceeded to the 
church with his " 'ooman" on his arm, followed by 
four or five "bride-boys," each with her future 
"man" on one side or the other, just as it happened. 

Let me explain that "boy" is used generally with- 
out regard to sex, and a phrase like "Yes, boy," is 
often equivalent to "Yes, indeed." A boy is called 
"young- feller" or sometimes a "small young-feller." 



an ametican in LatitaDot 133 

Filing thus past groups of admiring friends, who 
waited respectfully on the steps, the bridal party 
marched up the aisle and seated themselves on the 
front seat. It was a rather dark day and the church 
was filled with people and a dim religious light. In 
front, however, sufficient light shone from the 
bride's greenish-blue dress to enable the minister to 
read the service. I did not ascertain whether the 
groom had borrowed the shoes he wore ; but I think 
they must have been used during the courting; if so 
they were a valuable asset, for they were almost 
all patent leather and still able to outshine any or- 
dinary kitchen stove. The ring, the maid-of-honor's 
dress, and a few other pieces of regalia had been 
borrowed, I heard ; but the question in my mind is 
"From whom?" 

The hitching proceeded without many pauses, the 
hardest part being the manipulation of clumsy 
hands, where the minister has to see that the 
groom's right grasps the bride's right. As the ser- 
vice was entirely from the book, down north, where 
people frequently marry and then wait a year or so 
for the minister, one of the neighbors can easily do 
the job, with a little practice, and a canvas apron 
for a surplice. 

During the service the wind had increased to a 
gale and it was snowing hard, making it too dan- 
gerous to round the point to Trap Cove. The only 
alternative for the party was to walk up over the 



134 Wiitb Dt* &un(tll in Lafiraliot 

high hill between them and the harbor, and get 
someone to put them over to our side of the 
tickle. This they started to do, but the blinding 
snow put them off their course, and the wind made 
it impossible to climb. They slowly zigzagged up 
a short distance, and finally, losing their way alto- 
gether, turned back and made for the lights. They 
reached the house shortly before two, and, yielding 
to the inevitable, resolved to stay over night at a 
neighbor's. 

The next day, when I looked out of the window, 
I gained the impression that the house had been 
tipped over on its side, for it was snowing hard, 
straight across the window, parallel to the ground; 
the falling snow being blown that way by the gale. 
All this day the exiles were unable to return. I 
went on an errand to a house on the point, and was 
hardly able to push against the wind, in spite of the 
fact that my legs were well sheltered from it, for 
in some places I was up to the waist in soft snow. 
On the return trip I had a "fair" wind, which blew 
me along, so that I only needed to lean back and 
keep my feet ahead of me. I carried a bundle, and 
could hardly look around without finding a silent 
dog or two sneaking up behind to smell of it. This 
was interesting, for one of the nurses was going 
along the same path last year, when the dogs sprang 
suddenly on her from behind, threw her down, and 
began to tear at her. Fortunately she was well bun- 



an american in HatitaDot 135 

died up, and their bites had not yet penetrated her 
clothing when a man rushed out of a nearby house 
and drove them off. 

I was glad to see Battle Harbor in its winter 
costume, for its appearance is much changed. The 
snow was blown from the projecting rocks and 
packed into the crevices. In spite of its stays, the 
top of the flagstaff was broken off short. The dogs 
lay around, comfortably nestled in the snow, or ran 
about looking for scraps. They are rather more 
dangerous now than during the summer, when they 
can get plenty of cod heads and entrails from be- 
neath the splitting rooms, for now the fishing is 
practically over, and the people don't begin to feed 
their dogs until there is enough snow to use them on. 

The snow had come and been followed by a thaw, 
but was not gone by the afternoon of October 25th 
when we set out in the launch for the whale factory 
at Antill's Cove, towing two trap-skiffs. There had 
been a run of whales, and eight were rotting in the 
water, stripped only of their blubber. They had 
come in so fast that the men were not able to cut 
up the carcasses to make fertilizer. When we 
reached the wharf another whale had just been 
hauled up on the slanting slip. It was sixty feet 
long and nearly twice the height of a man. It had 
been dead two days, but the large feather-bed 
tongue was still trembling when I crawled up into 
the open mouth. 



136 Mith Dt* &tmttll lit Jlafitatiot 

There was a steam-winch at the head of the 
wharf, and, the first operation, after cutting off the 
large tail, was to cut long strips of thick blubber 
and tear them off with a steel cable from the winch. 
They were then cut up into pieces a foot square, so 
that the oil would be boiled out. The coarse-fibered 
flesh is cut up into cubes of the same size and boiled 
also. As the blood gushed out and ran in large 
streams down the slip, it was steaming hot and 
pleasant to warm one's feet in, for it could not pene- 
trate sea-boots. 

We obtained a supply of whale carving-knives, 
which have handles four feet long, and have to be 
sharpened frequently with horn-handled steels ex- 
actly like those used in American dining-rooms. 
The other tool necessary was a steel hook, about 
two feet long, with a loop handle. With this equip- 
ment we ran one of the skiffs through a narrow 
passage between two whales and into a small cove 
in a partly cut-up body. 

Half of the party clambered aboard the whale, 
and we all began cutting steaks. One would get a 
grip with his hook, while the others cut out a ten 
or twenty-pound block, which the first lifted into 
the boat. We frequently sank almost to the knee 
in the blubber, and one man, climbing up a small 
hill, fell over the edge into a deep valley filled with 
salt water, and was rescued with some dif^culty. 




< 

H 

Pi 
W 
W 
Q 

w 
Pi 



an american in ILaftraDot 137 

After loading two trap skiffs, we got back to the 
hospital with a fine lot of food for our dogs. 

A short time later we got off our last mail, by 
dog-team, and settled down for the long winter in 
Dr. Grenfell's country of adventure. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE LABRADOR ESKIMO 



The Eskimo of Labrador have always been more 
or less of a problem to men of science. In the first 
place their origin has never been definitely estab- 
lished. There are certain anthropological reasons 
for tracing them back to Mongolian stock, but, on 
the other hand, there are many radical differences 
which nearly discount this theory. Such small mat- 
ters as, for instance, the cross-section of the hair, 
prove that they are of a quite different stock from 
the Chinese and Japanese, and their stature, build 
and appearance are wholly different from those of 
the North American Indian. 

The resemblance to the Eastern races is further 
completed by their general intellectual development, 
or rather their possibilities for intellectual develop- 
ment, and their mechanical ingenuity and skill. The 
Eskimo are frequently regarded as stolid and ig- 
norant people, whereas the reverse is distinctly true. 
They manifest very considerable ability in learning. 

The Eskimo seem to have a natural language 
sense. Their own language is quite well developed 

138 



Cfte JLatiraDor (£B0bimo 139 

in its spoken state and differs very slightly from 
the Eskimo of Alaska and Greenland. It is the 
Moravian missionaries who have reduced this lan- 
guage to a written basis, very satisfactorily con- 
structing the words according to the phonetic sys- 
tem, with which their native language, German, had 
made them familiar. 

The following specimen of written Eskimo is 
from a translation of one of the Psalms : 

8. Tamanna pivlugo taipkotitunak-ituksaungi- 
lase: Atatapse attoriakartasse kaujimaveit tuksiar- 
vigekartinnassiuk. 

9. Taimak pivlugO' imak tuksiaritse: Atatavut 
killangme! Akkit nakorijaule. 

10. Nalegaunit kailaule. Perkojettit malliltaulit 

nuname sorlo killangme. 

11. Uvlome piksaptingnik tunnitsivigittigut. 

12. Ajornivut issumagijungnerkit, sorlo uvagut 
uvaptingnut ajortullijut issumagijungneraptigik. 

13. Oktorlungnartomut pitinata, piulittigule ajor- 
tunnit. Nalegaunek, pitsartunerlo, ananaunerlo 
pigigangne issokangitomut. Amen. 

The language is replete with consonants, quite 
too much so for beauty. There is the same differ- 
ence which is noted in most Northern languages as 
compared to Southern ones; namely, the much 
diminished use of the lips in forming the words 
and the comparative stiffness which results. In 
fact, Eskimo represents the extreme in this particu- 



I40 mith Dr. (Stenfell in LabraDot 

lar, and can be spoken with the face practically im- 
mobile and almost no motion, not only of the lips 
but even of the jaws. Spencer and other author- 
ities believe that this is the direct result of the 
severe cold, which naturally stiffens the face and 
tends to diminish flexibility of the lips. This 
seems a practical theory, especially as it is true that 
the Eskimo in speaking even hold the teeth tight 
shut. When first learning English they find it diffi- 
cult to get over this habit, and the resulting speech 
is extremely amusing, giving the impression that 
the speaker is undergoing a chill. 

Several hundred years ago many of the Eskimo 
were taught German by the Moravians, and ever 
since then a large number of them have spoken this 
language and also English, which they have learned 
from the traders and the visiting fishermen and 
whalers. They also early learned the language of 
the Indians of the interior, a form of Cree. In a 
few cases they have also learned French from the 
Indians and occasional strangers. Many of them 
to-day speak nothing but Eskimo, but a considerable 
number speak Indian, German and English besides, 
showing a facility which indicates the possession of 
at least one kind of brain power to a considerable 
degree. 

Another evidence of the Eastern mind is the 
manual work in which the Eskimo engage. Ex- 
tremely limited as to materials and tools, their work, 



Cfte LaftraDot (20kimo 141 

while cruder, is nevertheless clever and intricate in 
a manner which suggests the work of the Chinese 
and Japanese. Their carving in ivory, which they 
obtain from the tusks of walrus, is very cleverly 
done, although without the formal design shown in 
Eastern work of the same sort. Their pictures of 
animals and hunting scenes are simple line draw- 
ings, usually scratched on the surface of a tusk with 
a sharp instrument and marked in later with black 
pigment. To be sure these attempts are not capable 
of ranking with civilized work, but they have the 
good qualities of fairly close attention to detail. 
Their chief fault is the same mechanical formality 
and stiffness found in the very best Eastern work 
of to-day, for which no apologies are made. 

They seem to have a love of beauty, and manifest 
it less by ornamenting their tools and utensils than 
by making them, in their eyes at least, beautiful in 
form and clever in construction. On the Labrador, 
it must be borne in mind, the traders have brought 
civilization to a considerable extent and with it 
civilized utensils, weapons and material such as iron. 
Nevertheless many of the ancient Eskimo tools are 
still in use. Among the very Northern Eskimo may 
still be found bone knives and soapstone lamps. As 
one goes farther south these become rarer. The 
bone snow knife, which is used for cutting blocks 
of snow to make snow houses, as shelters on the 
journey, is pretty widely found. 



142 With Dr* ©tenfell m LaftraDot 

It is extremely interesting to see the extent to 
which the Eskimo have adapted civiHzed materials 
to their ancient designs. I have, for instance, a 
"wulu," or skin scraper, which is an exact repro- 
duction in wood and a piece of iron stovepipe of an 
instrument formerly made of some strong bone. I 
also have a tool, the "kiliutok," mentioned in the 
chapter *'An American in Labrador," which is used 
for cutting out sealskin garments, and which was 
formerly made of the hard outside bone from the 
jaw of a whale, which, in this specimen, has a blade 
of iron skilfully riveted to an ivory handle. The 
complete instrument resembles an old-fashioned 
meat-chopper of the single blade variety. The very 
ingenious fire drill, in which a stick is made to re- 
volve in a small hollow in a piece of wood by means 
of a bow, the string of which is twisted about the 
stick, is now very little used in Labrador, if at all, 
because of the introduction of matches. 

Similarly rifles have largely driven out the use of 
the Eskimo harpoon, which was one of the best in- 
stances of the Eskimo's inventive ability. It con- 
sisted of a wooden shaft made usually from a piece 
of driftwood, to which was lashed a complicated 
ivory point, in such a manner as automatically to 
dislodge as soon as it had entered the seal's body, 
and, by permitting the shaft to float free, prevent 
the breaking of a very scarce and consequently val- 
uable thing like a piece of wood. To the weapon 



Cl)e iLafiraDot dBsbimo 143 

was also attached a long line made of sealskin or 
walrus hide, at the other end of which was an in- 
flated seal's bladder, which prevented the animal 
from sinking, and thus being lost after he was 
killed. 

The ability of the Eskimo is well shown by the 
extent to which they have in the past adapted bone 
to the uses ordinarily served by iron and steel. 
They have, for instance, manufactured needles of 
hard bone, which are by no means large or clumsy, 
and in which they have drilled tiny eyes by means 
of a very small piece of sharp stone mounted at the 
end of the drill similar to the one used in making 
fire. Thread was undoubtedly a problem at first 
because there was no vegetable substance from 
which it could be made. This was solved by the 
use of sinew from the various animals, the most 
common being the seal and caribou and the most 
valued the whale. The huge ligament which runs 
down the back, and to which are attached the mus- 
cles which move the whale's enormous tail, is about 
as large as a man's wrist. This is cut out, dried 
and split into finer and finer fibers until pieces the 
thickness of thread are finally obtained. These are 
so tough that it is nearly impossible to break them. 

The Eskimo women can be rivaled by none as 
seamstresses ; their sewing is so delicately and skil- 
fully done that their seams are not only strong, but 
water- and air-tight. The boots which they make 



144 Mitt Dr* ©renfell in JLaliratiPt 

are undoubtedly the best in the world. It is said 
that on the Labrador coast an Eskimo woman's 
marriageability is dependent upon the condition of 
her teeth, because as long as she is able to chew the 
edges of the tough sealskin in order to make them 
soft for sewing, she is still a fit companion and help- 
mate to her husband. European clothes and ma- 
terials are being more and more used on the coast, 
especially in summer; but among the Eskimo seal- 
skin is very largely worn in winter. 

There are three parts to the wardrobe : the "net- 
sik," or cossack, which is the combined jacket and 
hood pulled down over the head, "hudulik," or 
trousers, and the *'kamik/' or boots, not to mention 
the mitts. The top garment, like all the others, is 
made exactly in the same way from one end of the 
coast to the other. The best seal is the species 
called ''ranger," which is a beautiful silvery gray 
mottled with darker spots on the back and nearly 
white on the belly. The boots are made knee length, 
with a soft moccasin bottom, and are also of seal- 
skin, the hair being turned outside and scraped off. 
Formerly the Eskimo wore underclothes of bird 
skins, the breasts of eider ducks being chiefly used. 
Now, however, undergarments the same shape as 
the outer ones are made of "duffle" or blanketing. 

European influence has also been felt in the mat- 
ter of food, very much to the detriment of the 
Eskimo. Their teeth, which formerly, without any 



Cfte Laliranot (Ssfeimo 145 

scientific care, were flawless, are now very generally 
injured by the effects of sugar, or rather molasses, 
with which they sweeten their tea. Indirectly this 
has undermined their digestions, aided in this mat- 
ter by the injurious effect of tea, and has been one 
of the factors in impairing the wonderful strength 
of constitution which the Eskimo formerly had. 

There has been much discussion by scientific men 
as to the effect of environment on diet. It is claimed 
by most popular writers that meat, and especially 
fat, is craved in a Northern climate, and is, in fact, 
absolutely essential to health. This is probably not 
true, for, although fat is eaten more willingly in the 
cold climate, there seems to be no reason why the 
Eskimo or anyone else could not subsist perfectly 
well on farinaceous foods, if only these were as 
readily obtainable. 

If the Eskimo are of Mongolian origin, or if, as 
must be true, they came from a more southern 
climate, they furnish the best instance of man's 
ability to adapt himself to widely varying condi- 
tions. The climate is, of course, the worst of these 
conditions with which they have to contend. Their 
first efforts were naturally against rather than with 
this condition — namely, the protection of their 
bodies by means of fur clothing and fire. 

But slowly they underwent a passive adaptation 
accomplished by Nature alone. Like the northern 
animals and the comparatively inactive women-folk 



146 mith Dt* arenfell in JLaliraDor 

of the cave-dwellers, they gradually developed a 
layer of fatty tissue. Consequently, they are mar- 
velously able to withstand the cold, even the occa- 
sional temperatures of sixty and more degrees be- 
low zero, and the much more severe blizzards at a 
higher temperature. I have never heard of an 
Eskimo suffering from freezing, though it doubtless 
has happened. 

Another condition to which the Eskimo have 
adapted themselves is the sunlight. During the 
spring, especially in March, the sun approaches very 
near the earth, and its light is therefore very in- 
tense. The temperature is still below zero, except 
in the direct rays of the sun, where it becomes un- 
comfortably warm. Snow still covers the entire 
landscape, and each noon its topmost surface melts 
very slightly. All the rest of the day it freezes 
again, producing a glassy surface, which reflects the 
dazzling sunlight with cruel brilliancy. 

For the ordinary mortal a short exposure to this 
light affects the eyes quite painfully. A day of it 
or less causes the affliction known as snow-blind- 
ness. The sufferer's eyes become swollen and 
watery, and soon he is absolutely unable to see. 
Whether he opens his eyes or keeps them shut the 
feeling is as though a mixture of pepper, sand and 
acid were being continually dashed into them. 
Nothing can give material relief; and the pain is 



Cfie ILabtatiot (Eskimo 147 

severe. With the lapse of time, however, the afflic- 
tion gradually disappears. 

White men prevent much of this suffering by 
wearing smoked glasses. The light is very apt to 
enter from beneath and sideways, however. Gog- 
gles are better; but some men become snow-blind 
in spite of every precaution. The Eskimo had no 
glass, but they made very ingenious wooden goggles 
fitting the eye socket closely, and provided, instead 
of glass lenses, with two narrow slits, crossing at 
right angles, through which they could see per- 
fectly. 

But here, too, passive adaptation seems to have 
taken place, for the Eskimo are much better able to 
stand the glare than white men. It is not impossible 
that their slit-like eyes have been evolved directly 
by the effect of this condition on many generations. 
Nowhere has the environment been more unmerci- 
ful, and consequently the survival of the fittest 
more relentlessly worked out than in the North. It 
seems entirely possible that those individuals whose 
eyes happened to vary from the normal toward a 
narrower shape, letting in less light, were able to 
hunt in times of severity, while the less fortunate 
Eskimo starved because of blindness. Among the 
following generations would have been a larger per 
centage of individuals with the successful form of 
eye ; and gradually this form would have become, 
as it is, a racial characteristic. This theory tends 



148 Wiith Dt* &tm(tll in JLafiraDor 

to disprove the Mongolian origin of the Eskimo, 
because it offers a quite different explanation of 
their appearance. 

On the other hand some sort of southern origin 
seems imperative as an explanation of the Eskimo's 
character. There are very few, if any, northern 
races whose mental make-up has not a serious, se- 
date, heavy, or even morose tone. The northern 
Indians, Norwegians, Anglo-Saxons and Russians 
all have different varieties of this general tempera- 
ment. The Eskimo, on the contrary, have a sunny, 
genial, amiable, care-free nature, more or less re- 
sembling that of the French, Italians and negroes. 

If the Labrador Eskimo were originally as war- 
like and treacherous as the early explorers and mis- 
sionaries relate, the change which has taken place 
in them is indeed marvelous. One must remember 
that these pioneers called them Indians, not differ- 
entiating them as a separate race ; and it is probable 
that some of the bloodthirsty attacks described 
were not made by Eskimo at all. In Greenland the 
first white men to see the Eskimo there found them 
naive and friendly; Stephanson's experience with 
the blonde Eskimo whom he discovered was the 
same. 

At any rate the Labrador Eskimo of to-day are 
kindly, curious, ingenuous people. The white men 
who live among them soon come to love them. A 
poor little Eskimo boy, whom Dr. Grenfell picked 



Cfte JLabraDot (B$kmo 149 

up on the northern coast, and, after removing a 
tubercular rib, nursed back to health, was my play- 
mate for many months when stationed at one of the 
hospitals. The handicap of his somewhat frail con- 
dition, lack of mother and father, and imperfect 
knowledge of English did not lessen his plucky self- 
reliance and indomitable spirit. He was full of 
energy and played outdoors and on the boats in the 
harbor, regardless of wet and cold. His mind was 
as bright as his dark eyes, and, although mischiev- 
ous, like most normal boys, he had a sunny and 
altogether lovable disposition. I wanted very much 
to adopt him, quixotic as the idea doubtless was, but 
in the climate of the eastern States he probably 
could not have lived. 

The Eskimo are undoubtedly best off in their 
own haunts; and they have a strong love of the 
north. One of the most detestable cruelties ever 
inflicted on a primitive people was that perpetrated 
by the men connected with the World's Fair at 
Chicago, who brought south a large number of the 
Labrador Eskimo, to exhibit them. After the Ex- 
position they took little or no trouble to send them 
back. Many of those who had not already fallen 
victims to the climate and the diseases of civiliza- 
tion died in the struggle to reach home. Only a 
few of the lot ever got back to Labrador. One little 
boy, Prince Pomiuk, who became widely known 
through the efforts of a kind old gentleman once 



I50 mat Dt* &tm(tll in ILaftraaot 

on the coast, was finally sent north, but died after 
long suffering. 

It was probably one of these derelicts from whom 
Dr. Grenfell received a message while I was with 
him in Labrador. The message was relayed along 
by telegraph and dog-mail, and arrived when we 
were frozen in for the winter. It said simply "I 
want to get home. Anatuk." It was impossible to 
find any trace of the sender; no one knows what 
has become of him. 

In Labrador the ''umiak" or ''woman's boat," a 
large cani_e, is no longer used to any extent. The 
fisherman's trap-skiff has generally replaced it. For 
a single fisherman the small punt with oars has 
somewhat replaced the native canoe as well. But 
many of these canoes or "kyaks" are still built and 
used in fishing and hunting seal.. 

The frame is wooden, pointed at both ends, and 
covered with sealskin. The top is similarly decked 
over except for a hole into which the one user puts 
his legs, to sit on the bottom. Seals, women or 
other "chattels" can be carried on the flat deck. A 
double-paddle is used; and in spite of its narrow 
blades propels the kyak at good speed even against 
a strong wind and tide. Dr. Grenfell has used one 
for many years, and is remarkably skilful in hand- 
ling it. He keeps it lashed on the deck of his little 
steamer ; and because its dark color and little height 



Cfte iLabttiDot (Eskimo 151 

above water make it inconspicuous he finds it well 
adapted for shooting ducks. 

The southern Eskimo live in huts made of plank- 
ing or split-logs roofed with sod. A few of their 
houses are very comfortable for the coast. The 
more northern groups live in a type of sealskin tent 
called **tupik" during the summer. Snow-houses 
are temporary dwellings only, used chiefly on jour- 
neys. The Eskimo are very skilful in building them 
in a very short time. The blocks of packed snow 
are cut with a bone knife and carefully fitted to- 
gether to form a circular wall a few feet high cov- 
ered with a dome-vault. When we remember the 
advanced stage of culture reached in Europe before 
the simple dome-vault was discovered, the evident 
rediscovery of this principle by so primitive a people 
seems again to show minds capable of invention 
and achievement. 

The same qualities are displayed in the varied 
use of almost the only other raw material besides 
snow and ice possessed by the Eskimo, the seal. 
Walrus was used in much the same way, but, as has 
been remarked, is now scarce. Naturally the plen- 
tiful seals were early used for food; but, in addi- 
tion, the skins furnished clothes and boots and bags, 
the bones countless implements. Instead of window- 
glass thin bladder-skin stretched taut was used. 
The fat furnished fuel for cooking, and light. 

The Eskimo have not stopped with providing the 



152 mitb Dr* (Srenfell in JLafiraDor 

mere necessities of life. They find time and means 
for play and luxuries as well. One of the least 
necessary things is land transportation. The north- 
ern Indians developed this very little. But the Es- 
kimo evidently very early caught and tamed litters 
of wolf -pups, from which stock they have devel- 
oped the partially domesticated Eskimo dog or 
husky. We found that our best dogs were those of 
purest Eskimo breed. Only the uncompromising 
taste of the huskies for other animals excuses the 
use of more civilized breeds. 

The Eskimo ''komatik" or sled is a long, low, 
narrow one made of wooden cross-bars lashed to 
wooden runners, and will stand hard strains with- 
out breaking. The runners are shod with smooth 
pieces cut from the jaw-bone of a whale. Even on 
our light imported sleds we frequently used these 
whale-bone shoes. Nothing causes less friction on 
comparatively soft snow. But in the main part of 
winter when there is no partial thaw the bone does 
not glide so smoothly. At this time the Eskimo 
mix dirt and snow thawed over a seal-oil lamp, and 
coat the under-surface of the runners with mud. 
Allowing this to freeze on, they polish it and apply 
additional coats until they produce a fairly thick 
frozen mud shoe, almost frictionless on the snow 
of midwinter. When it wears off a fresh coat is 
readily put on. When a slight thaw melts it off it 



-c^>.n^^ uf, aff.^,1^^^ ^Jtit<u.:^~^ 




Dr. Grenfell carrying up surveying apparatus to 
top of cliff 



Facing page 152 



Cfie ilafitaDoc aB0bimo 153 

is no longer wanted, because the bare whale-bone 
glides best on the damper snow. 

The Eskimo in Labrador as elsewhere are pecul- 
iarly susceptible to certain diseases in spite of their 
remarkably strong constitutions. Consumption has 
played great havoc among them. That they have 
not been wiped out by it is due to their remarkably 
sound systems. Men at the very door of death, 
who would be doomed by any physician with wide 
experience, have rallied and gotten entirely well. 
The Eskimo have not developed the immunity to 
many diseases that has been produced in most civil- 
ized peoples by the very prevalence of those dis- 
eases. Ills which we regard as simple, such as 
measles, often prove fatal. While on the coast I 
saw the sad results of an epidemic of scarlet fever. 

Much trouble is caused the Eskimo and the other 
natives by ignorance and neglect, and Dr. Grenfell 
is constantly teaching the simple truths of hy- 
giene, knowledge of which will prolong the life of 
this fine race. He has also become skilful in the 
specialized sort of medical work necessary to their 
unusual needs. One of his colleagues has discov- 
ered a skin disease new to medicine and found only 
among the Eskimo. An effective cure has at last 
been evolved. 

Work of this type, coupled with the broad and 
wise policy of developing by aid the Eskimo's own 



154 IQitI) Dr* ©tenfell in ILafiraDor 

initiative rather than cramping it, is typical of Dr. 
Grenfell's efforts among all his Labrador people. 
He has accomplished more for them in such varied 
ways, in comparatively few years, than centuries of 
evangelization could have done. Secondarily, and 
with no thought of doing so, he brings a stirring 
inspiration to America toward effective self-forget- 
ting work. He has helped not only the people of 
Labrador, but us. May we increasingly help him. 



APPENDIX: ADDRESSES 

Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell, Labrador, care of the 
Grenfell Association of America, 156 Fifth 
Avenue, New York. 
Dr. Grenfell is always ready to answer the ques- 
tions of persons who are in any way interested in 
the coast. As his time, however, is extremely full 
of the duties attendant on the administration of an 
establishment now of considerable size, as well as 
of his surgical and literary work, it is always well, if 
possible, to obtain information from some other 
source. Information on nearly all the parts of the 
Mission's activity can be obtained from the secre- 
taries of the various Grenfell Associations. The 
chief of these follow : 

Grenfell Association of America, 156 Fifth 

Ave., New York. 

New England Grenfell Association, 14 Beacon 

St., Boston. 

Grenfell Association of Canada, Jose Machado, 

Esq., Secretary, 224 Wellington St., Ottawa, 

Ont. 

155 



156 appenOfe: aDDte00e0 

Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fisher- 
men, Bridge House, i8i Queen Victoria St., 
London. 

Bowring & Co., Red Cross Line, 17 Battery 
Place, New York. The above company can give 
information in regard to its lines from New York to 
St. Johns and further north. It is the best line by 
which to send packages to the coast. 

J. W. N. Johnstone, General Passenger Agent, 
Re id Newfoundland Company, St. Johns, New- 
foundland. Mr. Johnstone is exceedingly kind in 
assisting intending visitors to Newfoundland and 
Labrador. He is also ready to help them find guides 
and to indicate good localities for hunting and fish- 
ing. 

W. & S. Job & Co., St. Johns, Newfoundland, 
and 68 Broad Street, New York. This firm con- 
ducts trading operations in fish on the coast, both in 
the Straits and further north. They also sometimes 
have a small steamer, which can be chartered for 
cruises or exploration. 

Mr. A. Sheard, Seamen's Institute, St. Johns, 
Newfoundland. 

By recent organization, which aims to produce 
the highest efficiency, and eliminate duplication of 
effort and waste, Mr. Sheard has been made Busi- 
ness Manager of the entire International Medical 
Mission. All business matters consequently should 



appenDij: 9DDte00e0 157 

be referred to him, and will receive very prompt and 
careful attention. To him also application should 
be made for the hiring for summer cruises of Dr. 
Grenfell's vessels. 

The author occasionally lectures on behalf of Dr. 
Grenfell's work, and may be addressed in care of 
The Grenfell Association of America, 156 Fifth 
Ave., Nev/ York. 



